


In Eternity

by eternaluniverse



Series: two Time Lords and a universe [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: (well - Freeform, (you can guess where it goes), Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Bliss, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Non-Explicit Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sentient TARDIS, The Doctor and The Master travel together, Violence, it’s the Doctor and the Master), the timeless child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:22:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaluniverse/pseuds/eternaluniverse
Summary: The Doctor and the Master, two Time Lords who are meant to be together. Or chase each other to different ends of the universe.This is the story.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Series: two Time Lords and a universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939033
Comments: 34
Kudos: 40





	1. Disapproving

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, I’m back!  
> I’m so excited to come back to this story. Who would have thought that this story, that started as a 900 words oneshot would end here? Definitely not me. 
> 
> This is a sequel to [The Doctor? ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22986421/chapters/54954034) , but I guess it’s possible to understand most of it, without reading the previous part, if you just accept, that the Doctor and the Master try to travel together. 
> 
> Many thanks to all of you who commented and left kudos on the previous work, I’m not sure if I would sit here, writing this, without your great support. This story is for you! 
> 
> Also many, many thanks to Alnairy for translating this story to [Russian](https://ficbook.net/readfic/10137838)!
> 
> This is gonna be another rollercoaster of emotions, and I can’t wait to start this journey with you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you had a great time :)  
> This chapter feels somehow still messily, but it sat on my laptop for weeks now, so before I make it even worse: I hope you enjoy!

The door flew open with a bang and the Doctor nearly dropped the tiny screws she tried to attach to her current project. Carefully she stood up from where she sat on the floor, placed the project on the nearest desk and turned around to face the Master.

He was still furious.

“Can we please just drop it?” She tried, exhausted by their ongoing fight. The Doctor couldn’t even remember how it started. Something stupid she had said. It seemed as if one tiny word of her always brought him to explode.

The Master growled at her suggestion and she wondered, if it would help, if she started screaming again, as they did before.

In the past hours they had been in all different states of ‘arguing’ (the Doctor was very much aware, that it was way past this point.) She had tried everything – staying calm, screaming, ignoring him, trying to _actual_ argue, leaving the room – he only came after her.

And eventually she got the feeling, that the Master was enjoying their fights. Which made it worse, because it made her angry, even though she shouldn’t be surprised about it, with knowing all the things he had done as a child.

“The whole thing is ridiculous!” The Doctor could barely supress the urge to throw her hands in the air.

The Master didn’t say a thing, just gave her the same look she would expect from a cat, right before it jumped for a mouse.

Alright, so now they reached the point, where he just stared at her, leaving the Doctor to talk? Which shouldn’t be a big problem. The Doctor loved to talk, and she had a lot of interesting stories to share, but not right now while she could tell by his look, that she was clearly the prey. 

And she would bet, that the Master only waited for her to say the wrong thing, so that he could start screaming again.

“Master, can we just… forget it?”

He gave her a dangerous look and the Doctor knew that it had been the worst thing she could have said to him.

He gave her a smile, which looked more like bared teeth of a hissing animal and came slowly closer to her. She feared the worse, and yet had the urge to roll her eyes. If anyone could see them –

“You know what, Doctor, have it your own way.”

The time seemed to still instantly and the desk made a sudden movement to the left when the Master kicked it with delight in his eyes. The clashing of all her pedantic sorted (well, for the Doctor at least) material broke the spell.

He gave her a nearly innocent grin with the look of a hunter in his eyes.

“You –“

“Me.” Now he was definitely grinning.

As if to prove his point she felt him nudging at the time streams around them. Oh, this bastard, worse of all, in no possible future, she had managed to catch the screws.

Somehow, that was the point, where she decided, that it was enough for today. And did exactly what the Master had expected. The Doctor could see the obvious delight in his eyes when she snapped instantly back in her anger.

It had taken her _ages_ to finally organise all the screws.

But of course, he already knew that.

With a scream – all tries to stay calm were exhausted after _hours_ , and the Doctor decided, that even a pacifist was allowed to have outbursts when dealing with the Master – she lunged forward, just to push him away.

The Master shoved her against the wall, she could see the twitching in the corner of his mouth. This time she tried to strike him and both of them crashed into the door.

The Master was grinning in delight.

The Doctor felt as if she just had the worst fight in her life. Her back was sore where she had collided multiple times with the wall, her hand stung after she had slapped the Master and her whole body felt as if she would wake up with bruises for the next two days.

At least her nose had stopped bleeding, even though she could still feel the disgusting taste of blood in her mouth.

Not that the Master cared. He was still holding her hand, pulling her along the queue, pushing away the humans that happened to stand in the way. A man growled something after them that sounded like an insult, but the Master was too cheerful to notice. Which actually was a success.

“Excuse me!” The woman over the counter gave them a disapproving look. Her gaze wandered over the Doctor and the Master, scanning them and squinted her eyes.

“Two tickets, please.” The Master said with a persuading voice. “We’ve already paid.”

“I’m sure you haven’t!” Another disapproving look. “Are you sure, you’re at the right spot?”

“Oh, I’m sure we are. Look at me.” He smiled sweetly, but the Doctor could see the danger glitter in his eyes. She wasn’t sure if the poor woman backed away from the manic look in his eyes or if he was placing a hypnotic suggesting in his words. Hard to tell with him, sometimes.

But two minutes later they were walking into LZ 10, one of the first airships the humans had built.

“Oh, come on, Doctor. It’s earth. I’m nice, all your stinky humans are still alive. Smile! It’s a wonderful day!”

The Doctor pulled a face.

“Oh, come on. You’re acting like a spoiled child. You can’t still be angry about theses screws?” The Master sighed.

The Doctor snorted. “As far as I remember, it wasn’t _me_ who got everything they wanted as a child. And I mean everything.”

“That's not true!”

“You’ve had your own _lab_. Just to annoy Ushas. And I’ve always dreamed of these tiny teleport TARDISes for Time Tots. You’ve had _two._ ”

The Master rolled his eyes, and she could see that he tried to hide his grin, but he was already spluttering, and the Doctor couldn’t help but join in his laugher of clear joy.

“Sir, Madam, if you could please take a seat.” The servant gave them an annoyed look, but for once the two giggling Time Lords followed the signs to the dinning room.

“Why’s everyone staring at us?” The Doctor asked after the waiter that had showed them their table kept staring at her.

The Master snorted. “Oh, don’t worry, perception filter.” He tapped at his head. “It’s you they’re staring at, love.”

“Well, thanks.” She rolled her eyes. “Why?”

“1911. Earth. Woman in trousers and _this shirt_.” He deliberately nudged her chest.

“Or maybe, I’m a looker.”

“Ha.” The Master grinned, but the dangerous glittering was back in his eyes. “In your dreams.”

“Should I test it?” The Doctor gave him a sweet smile, enjoying how she could see his eyes jump out of his face, before managed to put on his mask again. She grinned. “Quite out of practise. I used to snog a lot. Maybe I should find Jack and –“

All the Doctor managed was a surprised squeal before the Master’s mouth sealed her lips. His tongue slipped in her mouth as if to make sure she couldn’t start babbling again.

The Doctor’s eyes fluttered shut with a moan when his hands clasped around her hip. The Master pushed her against the wall and the Doctor’s sore back didn’t even protest too much.

_Still want to snog the freak?_ He whispered dangerously in her mind.

A disapproving cough burst their bubble of – well what? The Doctor for sure couldn’t tell.

“Ah, yes, sorry?” She grinned at the waiter.

“Please, Madame, Sir, take your seat now. We’re going to lift shortly.”

The Doctor allowed the man to pull her chair back, grinning at the Master, when the waiter forgot to do the same for him. He only rolled his eyes.

“Can I bring you something to drink?”

“Oh, yes.” The Doctor started excited. “Could we have a –“

The Master interrupted her with a hard kick against her shin. “Ouch!”

“We take a red wine, please.” The Master smiled. By Rassilon, how did he mange to convince everyone to like him?!

The waiter left with a small nod.

“What was that for?”

“What would you have ordered? Spinach juice with ginger.” The Doctor knew, that he was being sarcastic, but actually that didn’t sound to bad… “I should try that!”

“Oh Rassilon, Theta, stop.”

“Make me.” She grinned again.

Before they could start another round of disapproving glances, the airship finally started to lift and the Doctor could barely supress the urge to jump around the room.

Until she remembered something. “Wait –“

“Yes, dear?”

“You’re sure that one isn’t going to crash?”

The Master rolled his eyes. “What kind of date would it be, if we needed to jump from the sky?”

“You have the tendency to throw me out of planes so – wait, did you say date?”

The Master gave her this weird look. His face turned red. “No, I didn’t.”

The Doctor grinned. “Oh, it’s a date. I love dates. Hadn’t had a date for years.”

“Oh god, Doctor stop.”

The Master buried his face in his hands and it was such an absurd situation that she needed to remind herself that she was sitting in front of the Master. _The Master!_ Genocidal maniac mass murderer who ruined her current project only hours ago. (Alright, that sounded pretty weak after the whole genocide incident.)

“Remember our second date. When I brought you the bunch of flowers.”

The Master’s face appeared. He snorted laughing. “The _giant_ bunch of flowers. It was a monstrosity. I slept in flowers for weeks.”

The Doctor had the silly urge to lean over the table and kiss him. But of course, that was the moment the waiter reappeared with a bottle in his hand.

It felt like an eternity while he poured the wine into their glasses. As soon as he left the Doctor took a few gulps.

And nearly spit it all over the table.

“That’s horrible.” She could feel the waiter’s eyes on her back. “Why does it always taste so bad. For multiple _bodies_ now. That’s not fair.” The Master took a slow sip, smiling sweetly at her. “Oh, I should have ordered the spinach juice.”

“There’s not spinach juice.” Her – well _date_ – explained calmly. “It’s 1911. And stop talking about different bodies. Everyone already thinks you’re mad.”

“No, they don’t!”

But when the Doctor followed the Master’s gaze she needed to confess, that _a lot_ of disapproving looks were aimed at her. The Doctor sighed. “I thought I left that behind after that terrible party where Borusa announced my as his – what was it?”

The Master frowned. “Sparkling student? Some nonsense like that? To convince you to work harder.”

The Doctor snorted. “I think we can confirm that poor Borusa failed miserable.”

“Miserable, Doctor? That’s an understatement.”

“Oh, do shut up!” But the Doctor was smiling warmly at him. And the Master’s eyes, for once, were filled with something strangely resembling to _love._

It was hard to remember, sometimes, that he used to be a romantic. Not that it had been hard to adore Koschei.

“What are you thinking of?”

The Doctor was pulled out of her thoughts. The Master looked at her with his head cocked and a bit of wine smeared on his cheek.

“Oh, you. I think.” She leaned over the table to wipe the wine away from his shocked expression, but only made it worse.

“Sorry… ruined your beard.”

But the Master only gripped her shoulders and pulled her closer until they were kissing over the table. It felt so unreal and dreamlike while they were floating through the air.

Well. Until the Doctor (or the Master, hard to tell, while snogging) tipped over the open bottle of wine.

The disapproving glances followed them for the rest of the journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I’m a bit nervous about this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it!  
> I try my best to post at least once a week and hopefully most of the coming chapters are a bit longer and feel more consistent.


	2. Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was done on Monday. I planned on editing and posting it the next day. My laptop had other ideas and chose the perfect time to stop working. For four days.  
> Sorry. I hope that doesn’t happen again. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

There were times when the Doctor still couldn’t believe the change in her life. Weeks had past by since that awkward moment when neither the Doctor nor the Master could have said what they really wanted to: stay together. For once, see every star in the universe.

And somehow, it had worked for weeks now. Well, maybe that was the wrong way to describe it, but the Master hadn’t killed anyone yet (as far as she _knew_ ) and they managed to forget their regular fights after a while.

It was playing with the fire, and the Doctor knew it. The Master knew it too.

Maybe that was the reason why both of them so desperately tried to hold onto these fragile remains of a friendship that was damned to fail.

Only, that the Doctor started to think that might not be true.

Currently, she was leaning on the Master, laughing that much, that she could barely walk herself. Her friend had a smug grin on his face, while he guided her out of the doors of the airship.

Everyone was staring at them.

Again.

“I told you _not_ to order spinach juice. And you really shouldn’t have licked the floor.”

“Thought … it was –” But another fit of laugher interrupted her try to explain the situation. Not that it needed any explanation.

The Master’s grin only got wider, his eyes trying to imitate the disapproving looks of the other passenger. The Doctor only giggled that much, that she switched to her respirator bypass and let the Master pull her back towards the TARDIS.

At least for once, her beloved ship was willingly enough to open the doors for them. Since the Master lived on board, they had spent hours talking to closed door, kindly asking her to let them in.

It worked most of the times.

The TARDIS had her days when she loathed the Master because the whole “paradox-machine-eye-of-harmony-nonsense” as the Master liked to call it and living in an angry ship had been… difficult.

Days of cold water, undesired walks for hours and the surprising lack of gravity were only a few things on the list.

On other days the Doctor wasn’t sure if her Tardis wasn’t as much a drama queen as the Master.

“I’m living with two manic beings.” She had muttered one day and was rewarded with another shower of icy water. To annoy her ship, she had cuddled with the Master afterwards to warm herself, and felt like a child, choosing one friend over another.

Now, they stumbled over the threshold of the door, and it was only when the Master dropped her on the floor that the Doctor’s laugher slowly died away. She was still grinning at him, but the Master rolled his eyes at her attempt to come back to her feet.

“That was fun.”

The Master snorted. “I’m gonna need a nap after this. Care to join me?”

The Doctor pressed her lips together. “Really? After this little flight? You sleep all the time!” She complained.

The Master rolled his eyes again. He had started to make an awful habit of this.

“You know that’s not true. I slept once, after this giant snow bear tried to eat me. You don’t sleep all.”

She shook her head. “Nonsense, I _nap._ Much for efficient than loosing multiple hours at once.”

The Master gave her that one _look_ but didn’t say a thing about her statement. The Doctor was grateful for it.

“Anyway, you know where to find me. Don’t set the room on fire.”

“I never did.” The Doctor grumbled while the Master only gave her another smug grin and disappeared in one of the corridors.

The Doctor shook her head about this bore and considered following a distress call. She hadn’t done that for weeks. Only that she remembered with her stomach dropping, she didn’t do it for a reason. Unpredictable as the Master was, the Doctor knew, that the wrong distress call could shatter the fragile construct their had built around their friendship.

It had already happened once.

And the Doctor was still shocked about the thought of the Master – Missy – dying on her own.

She shook her head, decided to leave the console room, just to be save, and walked to one of the many rooms she occasionally used. As if to tease her, it had a bed in the middle.

“Not tired.” The Doctor growled at the wall, only to slump at the soft blankets.

Demonstrative she pulled on her notebooks out of her pocket and flipped through it. Her eyes got caught on her current project, a machine to capture the sound they made while flying through the Vortex – the project what lay shattered in another room.

Alright, not thinking about that. Instead her thoughts wandered to the Master. Which was debatable not better. But the thought of him sleeping somewhere, for sure having nightmares, while she tried to stay put.

It was already a struggle. But the alternative felt worse.

The first time the Master decided to take a nap, he convinced the Doctor with wide eyes and an innocent smile to join him. Couldn’t be too bad, she had thought. They had done it before. It had been nice.

As it turned out it wasn’t nice at all.

Not even an hour after they had gone to sleep, minds carefully brushing each other, the Doctor awoke screaming, captured in one of her usual nightmares. The Master – still drowsy and not having the nicest dreams either – tried to calm her down.

What turned out to be a bad idea after the Doctor had just dreamed of a burning Gallifrey with the Master in the centre of the flames, laughing while she left him to die.

Judging by the blooming bruise and his bloodshot eye, she must have hit him really hard.

Not that he ever used it against her – but he never teased the Doctor again, when she took another nap of mere seconds in another far too unappropriated place.

So, when the Master – a very naked Master – already half asleep crawled into her bed where she was still flipping through one of her many notebooks, already planning another of her projects, the Doctor only raised her eyebrow. (Or tried to, this body was unable to do so, but she liked to ignore that).

“You couldn’t have left your boxers on?” He grinned sleepily.

“Sure you want that?” As an answer she threw the blanket over his head.

The Master must have been really tired, because he only hummed in protest and snuggled into the blanket, pulling her pillow away from her and hugged it.

“Seriously? Get yourself a stuffed toy.”

The Master grunted but didn’t seem to be in the mood to comment.

The Doctor still wasn’t used to the Master being that close to her, without constantly worrying for the sake of the universe and the lives of the people around her. A part of her still had difficulties relaxing completely in his close proximity.

She tried to get her thoughts back to her notebook, but her eyes kept wandering over his relaxed features and the, by now usual, press of his mind suggested that he was nearly asleep. (The Doctor still caught herself believing, he was just pretending and immediately felt bad for it.)

He looked so innocent, the way his hair loosely hung in his face, now that he stopped brushing it back into position and the Doctor had the foolish urge to stroke through his curly hair. She bit her lip, nervously moving around.

He was quite distracting.

“Stop thinking so loud, I’m trying to sleep!” The Master growled suddenly, eyes still closed, and to her horror her walls had faltered more than she had wanted too.

“Sorry…” She mumbled, making sure he wouldn’t catch up other thoughts of her. _How much_ did he hear?

The Doctor still kept staring at him, even when he turned around. The way his hair curled on the back of his neck looked adorable.

She felt as a stupid teenager. It had been fine to stare at Koschei like that – but thousands of years later? The Doctor felt foolish and betrayed by her feelings.

But it wasn’t that easy to get her thought back to her pile of scribbled notes while the Master started to snore lightly next to her.

The Doctor could never understand how the Master slept for hours on a row, when he finally decided to sleep. She was quite happy with her method of napping here and there. The Master only rolled his eyes.

But to be honest – the Doctor remembered times, long, long ago, where they slept snuggled together, sharing dreams and spending hours in a too tiny bed.

Innocent times. Times before guilt and crushing nightmares made sleep to an unbearable pain. She envied the Master for his sleeping rhythm. Even though, deep down she knew, that this was his way of escaping the horrors in his head. Only a glimpse, every few weeks didn’t sound too bad. Well, until that glimpse lasted for hours.

Far too fitting for her thoughts, a choked scream startled the Doctor. She turned around, only to see the Master, sitting upright, eyes wide and unseeing. He was breathing heavily.

“Hey, Koschei, lay down again, only me.” She mumbled, knowing that her trying to touch him now wouldn’t end well for neither of them.

The Master groaned and she wasn’t sure if he had actually heard her, before he more or less slumped back in the pillows, body awkwardly bend. His eyes fluttered shut again, and the Doctor tried her best to forget the pure terror in them.

Which wasn’t easy while the Master directly slid back into another nightmare. Their connection was still open, touching on the edges and she could feel the distant fear, that uncomfortable tickling down her spine.

She could _smell_ the smoke.

The Doctor felt nauseous.

The Master started to grimace, eyes rolling behind his closed eyelids. He whimpered quietly, moving uneasy in the sheets. It felt wrong to try and soothe him, now, that he so openly allowed her to see his feelings. It had been easy all those weeks ago, when he had still been trying to lose his fight against the Cyberium.

A Master who showed her so much obvious hatred was much easier to deal with, than a Master who acted like Koschei, but was very much the same person that murdered their entire race.

Still hesitating, the Doctor reached for him, carefully taking his hand in her own.

It felt like a drop of water on a boiling stone.

The Doctor fought her hesitation away – a part of her, at this point a really hated part, still mistrusted the peace. She didn’t want to lose him again, and as much as she despised that part of her that would rather watch the Master suffer than help him, she couldn’t ignore that feeling.

One wrong action, one wrong word. Even a single wrong look and all that could fall apart, before the Doctor could even try to keep it together.

But finally, she slowly lay down to be on the same level as him. The peaceful look in features was long gone, replaced with emotions so hard to place. This face was still so new to her, even though he had it for years now.

Before the Doctor could think about anything else that didn’t help in the slightest, she slid under the blanket, wrapping her arms around his twitching body and moving her head until their foreheads touched.

The Doctor could see glimpses of the Master’s nightmares – images without context, remind her of different horrors – but apart from that she kept their telepathic connection as closed as it was, while she carefully started to stroke his hair.

To the Doctor’s surprise her uncertain try worked. The Master’s fast-moving body stilled in her arms and he sighed loudly before he snuggled even more in her embrace until his face was resting in the crook of her neck.

Her movements froze in disbelieve before she shook her head and reminded herself not to question _everything_ the Master did, especially when he was that deep asleep.

“I wish I could trust you.” The Doctor whispered, words she would never ever tell the Master when he could actually hear her.

He would get her wrong for sure, wouldn’t be able to understand, that she loved him with all her hearts and would happily give her life in his hands, but could never bring herself to trust that far too perfect friendship that sometimes felt in her head, as if it was already shattered to pieces which pierced her skin in her desperate attempt to reattach them, making the Doctor bleed the dreams of their lives.

The Master groaned and brought the Doctor back in her body, where she realised, that she had held her breath again. Taking deep, shuddering breaths the Doctor forced her body to feel the heat of the Master’s body, reminding herself, that he was still _there._ And he wouldn’t leave if she wouldn’t give him a reason to mistrust her feelings.

Feeling her distress, the Master groaned again, and then, suddenly opened his eyes. He watched her with obvious confusion, but the Doctor still felt her hearts skip a beat in shock about his sudden piercing look.

But his gaze only found her face and he smiled bleary and drifted back to sleep. While dozing off the Master started to rearrange his position rolling away from her. The Doctor hesitated to long to wrap her arms around him again. Before she could even blink, he was on the other side of the bed.

With the blanket.

The Doctor frowned, somehow feeling lonely and betrayed all at sudden. The cuddling hadn’t been that bad… but her snoring friend didn’t seem to considerer returning in the previous position.

She waited for a while – and that was hard, a nervous sensation wandering down her back – before she couldn’t endure that feeling anymore and sat up again.

Traitor! (But to be honest, what else should she expect from _the Master_?)

Alright, the Doctor thought, back to the notebooks.

Only that her body was missing the warmth the Master was radiating. And the blanket. And her pillow he was cuddling.

Okay. The Doctor was jealous of a pillow. She groaned and only just reminded herself not to slump back, because _her pillow as gone_.

“You’re not deserving anything else!” She muttered at the Master’s unmoving back, before she slid back under the blanket, trying her best to find a comfortable position.

She ended with her head on his shoulder and that wasn’t that comfortable, feeling all his bones through his skin, but it was warm, and far more relaxing than sitting in the cold on her own and… The Doctor’s eyes started to flutter. No harm done in closing her eyes for a moment –

The Master woke up with the weight of a body on his back, compressing his lung. His legs felt restraint by a blanket and another pair of legs. And the arms around his waist didn’t help.

“Doctor!” He growled in the pillow. “Are you planning on murdering me?”

But to his surprise she seemed actually _asleep_ , her body moving in regular breaths and he could swear she was snoring.

“Knew it!” He grinned, reminding himself to tease her with it, the next time she would insisting on being the quietest person in her sleep.

Which had always been the most amusing lie the Doctor had told, when the Master remembered far too many times he had woken up by the Doctor’s sleepy monologues.

But that didn’t solve the problem of being squashed to death. Wiggling out of her grip turned out to be a hard task and honestly, after five minutes the Master gave up and simply pushed the Doctor off his back.

She complained but taking by her statement about “a murderous Christmas tree” the Doctor was still fast asleep. The Master rolled her eyes about that idiot.

What should he take out of her behaviour, snuggling with him when he was asleep, but refusing any gently touch since they started their truce in her TARDIS? It was something so typical _Theta_ , that the Master didn’t even roll his eyes about her. But even he knew that she was fighting with other demons.

The Master shook his head and left the room before his thoughts could slide back into the endless circle of looking through all the knowledge he had about the Doctor’s live, and searching for a reasons he could already guess and still seeing Tecteun over a crying child.

The Doctor would hate him even more for these thoughts and he would make sure to never let her see that deep into his head.

And actually, most of the times it was easy to press them away. Even though the Master felt as if a strange holiday of a domestic bliss had taken a step too far. There was no way to defend why he – _The Master –_ was standing in the kitchen, _cooking._

Not just to annoy the Doctor while he ate in front of her, but the actually please her. It was such a strange feeling that the Master still caught himself, frowning.

“That can’t be real.” He mumbled, but the frizzle of the fried egg and the always present humming of the TARDIS proved him otherwise.

The even stranger thing was, that he actually enjoyed his togetherness with the Doctor.

Not once had she spoken about her pets and the Master felt as if he was the centre of her life. It was a good feeling, but still a strange feeling. A feeling he hadn’t had since they had been students at the Academy and had shared a room.

The Master was smiling in remembrance of much easier times, while he placed the food on a plate and made his way back to his sleeping friend. The Tardis was surprisingly cooperative today, and it only took him two wrong rooms before he was back in the bedroom, they had fallen asleep. (Not the Doctor’s room, she was still avoiding this part of the Tardis.)

The Doctor was still half asleep, dozing without acknowledging his return.

It still stung how much she looked like the little boy he had met all those years ago, who had changed his life. The Master had tried to imagine a live, where he had never met the Doctor, only to realise, that it made him sick and he didn’t want to think about it.

But he still felt as seeing a mirror image of Theta, the same facial expression, the same way he used to curl his body.

Carefully, the Master sat the plate down the bedside table and crawled back into the bed. Instantly, the Doctor curled into his arms. Hard to believe, that this woman hated it to be touched.

“Doctor.”

She growled and the Master felt like a teenager when he bent down and started to place kisses all over her face and neck.

That convinced her to open her eyes eventually, uncurling, yawning and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Yeah, definitely a dreamlike state.

“Doctor.” He said again, but she was only mumbling in his shirt.

“What was that?”

Slowly, she lifted her head, watching him out of bleary eyes. “You stole my pillow.” She repeated, trying to give him a disapproving look.

She failed.

The Master laughed and pushed the Doctor back into the bed. She made a squeaking noise, protesting loudly, but that seemed to wake her up properly.

“You-” She started growling, but he only laughed again.

“Apology?”

The way the Doctor’s eyes flickered to the plate, the Master could tell that she accepted his little present.

She even nearly even missed her obligate “It’s poisoned?”, before she ate the whole breakfast in a speed as if it was a snack.

“Whad wash that?” She asked, still chewing.

The Master rolled his eyes. “Normal people asked _before_ they eat.”

The Doctor tried to come up with _something_ , but to his luck she was still busy swallowing her last bite.

“And to answer your question. Human bird egg and Venusian vegetables.”

“Ah.” She grinned at him, ruffled hair and still swollen eyes.

And then, all at sudden situations like that remind him, that it was sometimes still hard to believe, that neither the Master nor the Doctor had even thought for a second, that this could work out at all. And yet, days and days had passed. Weeks. And both Time Lords were still alive in one TARDIS, trying to relish this feeling.

And the Master felt _good_ when he returned the grin and decided to convince the Doctor that they would bake today.


	3. Liar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of unplanned things happened all at once, and unfortunately I hadn’t anticipated the amount of time it would take me… Sorry about that.  
> It might take me some time to come back to my usual posting schedule, but I try my best, that this was my last delay!  
> I hope you enjoy :)

They did bake.

And the Master was amazed about the fact, that the Doctor didn’t try to try another of her “unusual recipes”.

Apart from the gingerbread that consisted of mostly pepper and ginger.

“Doctor. The Master took a look at the dark pastry with pepper and ginger pieces. “You sure it’s supposed to be that peppery?”

“There’re countries that call them ‘pepper cookies’, that must come from somewhere!”

The Master sighed. It was useless to argue with her. As long as she could bring facts to cancel his arguments out, it was better to let her have her ideas.

“Alright, love. The next time I want to get drunk I try your gingerbread-pepper cookies.”

The Doctor snorted. “Won’t make much of a difference.”

The Master casually flipped a spoon full of the dough he was mixing in her face. She spluttered, grinned even more and took the bowl out of his hands.

“Tastes great. Love the consistency.” She explained while trying to lick her face. 

The Master heard himself laughing. “Sure, Doctor. Next time I make soup.”

The Doctor froze, watching him with her head cocked. The Master sighed, leaned forward and tried to clean the mess on her face and hair.

“What?” He asked, when the Doctor didn’t move away from his useless tries to save her hair.

“Still don’t like soup.” She said with flat voice. And jumped right into her usual babbling. “Which is odd, you know, after a regeneration and all that, and I smelled some great soups on Washun and Ryan said it tasted great but I still –”

“Doctor!”

“Yes?” She finally turned around to look at the Master.

“Stop!”

“Stopping…” She rolled her eyes, and then stared at him, waiting for an answer.

The Master didn’t know what to say. Thinking about it, it might have been better to let her ramble until both of them had forgotten what she had talked about in the beginning. But he tried to change that. He tried to be her friend again.

“You never talked about it again.” He finally said calmly.

The Doctor gave him a long look, before she took another spoonful of the now nearly empty bowl of dough. The Master pulled the spoon out of her hand and started to eat the remains.

“Hey!”

They started to fight about it, laughing constantly. The Master managed to keep the bowl but eating turned out to be quite difficult. What made it easier for the Doctor to shove her face into the bowl.

“Oh Rassilon.” The Master mumbled and started howling in laugher when he realised, that the Doctor was stuck. Dough was running down her neck and he stumbled forward, in a childish attempt to eat the last remains.

“Stop!” The Doctor demanded, muffled through the plastic. “Hey!” But the Master kept licking her neck and judging by the sounds of laugher it couldn’t be too bad.

“Only fair.” He smirked and considered leaving the Doctor like that – not that it stopped her from talking.

The Master stepped away, watching her tries to pull the bowl away.

“My head must have grown.” She said and he was back in another fit of laugher.

“I still won!”

But the Master was laughing too much to care. He tripped over, gasping for breath, trying to see through tears of laugher, nearly pushing the Doctor aside. She stumbled, holding on to his coat and both of them fell over the table.

Good thing: Most of their pastry was still alive.  
Bad thing: the bowl rolled clashing over the floor and Doctor gave him a funny look.

“What?”

“You’ve got dough in your beard.”

“Oh no.” The Master growled, hands abruptly going in his face, but the Doctor was faster, flung her arms around his neck and pressed her sticky hair in his face.

“I lied.” She grinned at him, when she lifted her face. “But now, there _is_ dough in your beard.”

The Master didn’t know if he should push her aside or laugh. Instead, he pulled her back and kissed her roughly.

The Doctor chuckled, but finally stopped wiggling, opening her mouth, her tongue teasing. She tasted of the dough and pepper he only deepened their kiss.

His hand found her sticky hair, combing through a texture that hadn’t much to do with hair.

 _Shower?_ The Doctor asked.

Instead of an answer the Master pulled her up, flinging her over his shoulder. She squealed with joy, playfully kicking his back.

The Master ignored her, while laughing himself and pushed the nearest door open. Instead of a bathroom he stared into the width of the swimming pool.

“Seriously?” He growled at the ceiling. “Want me to drown her?” The door flung shut again without him doing anything.

The Master sighed, but when he carefully pushed down the door handle this time, the room behind it looked more like something he expected.

“It’s getting uncomfortable up here!” The Doctor yelled in his ear.

“Disadvantage of being the little one.” The Master considered throwing her down, when she started to hit his back, explaining why _he_ was definitely the little one.

Instead, he carefully sat her in the bathtub, peering at the shower head.

“No, you don’t!”

The Master laughed again, slipping out of his trousers. “Well then, what are you waiting for, Doctor?”

“Someone can’t wait, I see.” She grinned mischievous and it ended in a competition who was faster in undressing.

The Master won, but only because he ‘slipped’ and ‘accidently’ hit the tap. And undressing soaking wet clothes slowed the Doctor down enough for him be the charming winner.

“Cheat!” The Doctor growled and looked adorable with her angry expression and the hair flat on her forehead.

The Master gave her another smug smile before he finally joined her, pulling her out of the last remains of her clothes.

“We need to wash your hair.” He said as soon as the hot water was pattering over his back.

“Can’t wait.” The Doctor smiled and blew him a kiss. It looked as if she tried to shoo the water. The Master laughed and took the shampoo. He pushed her until she, not before rolling her eyes in played annoyance, sank on her knees.

The Master grinned in delight, it got so easy to get her to her knees, and started to massage the shampoo in her hair. The Doctor’s hair had grown over her shoulders and to his surprise she rarely talked about cutting it. (The Master suspected, that it was mostly because she annoyed him long enough until he braided it for her again.)

It reminded him of Theta’s rebellious phase when he had refused to cut his hair, just to annoy _everyone._ He had loved him for it, and he couldn’t deny that it had always looked great on him.

Suddenly, the Doctor pulled away, the warm water splashing in his face.

“Hey, wait Doctor. You still need the conditioner!”

“That can wait, Master.” She gave him a smug smile he rarely saw on her face, then they were back to kissing.

Of course, they ended up having sex in the shower and the Master wondered while moaning in pleasure, if that had been the Doctor’s secret plan the whole time.

The Doctor’s hair felt smooth under his fingers while the Master repeatedly brushed through it. It was almost dry by now, but they were still sitting in the bathtub.

The Doctor was sitting with her chin resting on her knees, while the Master snuggled against her back, hands moving through her hair. She was so still, not moving at all, but the Master ignored the oddness of his, usual never stopping, friend.

It was odd on its own, that the Doctor was still allowing this intimacy.

So gently unlike their usual battering, where she pushed him to touch her roughly until their moments of intimacy, no matter how they had started resembled hate sex more than anything else.

Not that the Master was complaining… but he was doing exactly what the Doctor expected from him. And even though he was genuinely _happy_ in their current situation, it hurt how she needed to see him like that, as if she was already preparing for his leaving.

And the Doctor usually had a feeling for that sort of things.

“Doctor?” The Master mumbled sleepily.

“Hmm?” She didn’t even lift her head.

“You can talk to me about the things that happened in the confession dial.”

The Doctor didn’t seem to react, but he could feel her already still body going even stiffer and suddenly all the Master could feel was a satisfaction the Doctor would hate him for.

The satisfaction to remove the people that hurt her so many times. He felt _good_ for murdering the Time Lords, because to be honest, the hidden secrets of the Timeless Child had only been a single drop of a hot stone.

They had hurt the Doctor so many times before his discovery. 

“No need to…” The Doctor finally mumbled, bringing him back in the presence and the Master sighed.

“Yeah, sure dear, that’s why you still don’t want to eat soup.”

The Doctor pulled herself out of his embrace, turning around to give him angry looks. As always, she looked stunning.

“What are you up to?”

The Master had the feeling, that this was a legitimate question. He was up to _something_ , wasn’t he? But probably not what the Doctor’s expected.

“Want to go outside?” The Master asked while combing through her hair, again. “A distress signal?”

The Doctor stared at him in surprise. “Are you mad?” The same second the words left her mouth the Master saw the horror in her eyes, but for once the Master laughed.

In the past situations like that would have shattered the moment to pieces. Especially when he was still Koschei implications about his sanity, no matter how innocent they were used, resulted in an fit of rage.

But now the Master only laughed.

“Yeah love, but I’m sure you know that.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” The Doctor bubbled and he laughed again, suddenly a strange feeling in his guts, that his friend was obviously terrified to say the wrong things.

“So, want to go outside?”

The Doctor took a deep breath, eyes flickering through the room before she nodded slowly.

“But only if you do my hair.” She grinned. “You gotta be useful for _something._ ”

The Master started to regret his decision, when, only five minutes after they left the TARDIS a pistol was pressed against his head. He growled in anger, planing on strangling the attacker, when the Doctor made a pained noise. But before he could turn around in homicidal intents he was knocked out cold.

Waking up in a stinking prison wasn’t a new experience for both of them, and the Doctor assured him, escaping would be quite easy once the were past the door.

“Seriously?” The Master growled in his hands, his head painfully pounding.

He was sure that there must be another way to get past that door apart from waiting, but to be honest, his headache got worse with every passing minute. 

His eyes closed with a groan, but of course, all the Doctor had to do was scold him. “You’re impossible!”

“My head hurts, love. Also, busy escape to come, lots of running and hours in a stinking cell. What else should I do but sleep.” 

“We could talk!”

He could hear that it was intended to sound like a joke, but the desperation was swinging with every word. The Doctor was right, and he knew it. But there it was, this fear of ruining it again, fizzling in the back of his mind. And so, the Master laughed. “No thanks.” And felt bad for the Doctor’s hurt expression before she hid it safely behind a mask.

The disappointment remained in her eyes when she growled. “Spoilsport.”

The Master knew that she actually wanted to say ‘coward’ and was glad she didn’t. To block out her fixed gaze, he leaned against the cold wall and let his eyes fall shut.

A little trance-like nap hadn’t hurt anyone. Especially not his aching head. _Liar_. But the Master forced his body to drift away, only leaving relevant senses and hid inside his mind.

He could deal later with the Doctor. Maybe.

The Doctor shook her head in annoyance when the Master actually doze off. She _knew_ he was doing it intentionally, Koschei had always had the annoying trait to doze of whenever he had been bored, or he had wanted to annoy Theta (as long as the drums had let him).

But this – this was a new way of teasing her.

(A part of the Doctor knew that _the Master_ would have other means to tease her, if he wished for, means that wouldn’t rely on the tiredness. And there it was again, the feeling of acting like a bad-tempered child. Great.)

“Master?”

Nope, definitely ignoring her. For a while the Doctor considered of accidently tripping and falling against him, but that would be hard to explain in a cell barely tall enough for them to stand.

She emptied the contents of her pockets on the floor, trying to sort them, but after another chaos the gave up. But she found her old Jojo and the Jelly Babies still tasted good after years in her pockets.

Her thoughts started to drift off, while she put her treasures back in her pockets. To the Doctor’s own surprise she started to think of Liz Shaw. It had been so long ago since she had last thought about the young woman.

The Doctor wondered, why she never came back for her. Liz would have loved an adventure in time and space.

Oh, and Tim Shaw – the Doctor giggled. (Poor, Tzim-Sha, post regeneration had really confused her)  
Maybe they were secret siblings. She could already hear her friend’s cheeky answer.

And anyway, she should visit her now! Liz would be – _“Sshh, she mustn’t find us!”_ – amazed over her new appearance. And Jo, and – _the young girl gave her a critical look. The long, dark hair fell like a curtain over her shoulders, distracting the Doctor so that it took her a while to realise, what was wrong._

_Not only had she slipped in the Master’s head while drifting off with her own thoughts, but the girl was seriously injured. Even though she was standing, the Doctor was sure she would tip over while trying to take a step._

_She pressed her small hands over a dangerous looking wound on her chest._

_“What…” the Doctor whispered, staring at the child in shock. Worst of all, she could swear she had seen her face before._

_And where was the Master? She was in his mind after all!_

_As if he heard her thoughts – what he thankfully didn’t, if he did, she would already lay on the floor with severe nose bleeding – he slowly stepped out of the shadow._

_His eyes were dark with hatred, and for a second the Doctor feared for the girl, only to realise that every time their eyes crossed, his expression changed to pure love. Such a strange thing to see him do, the Master of disguise, barely showing his feelings to anyone, and yet obviously feeling the need to protect that girl._

_The Doctor wondered, if she should be jealous or run away before she would witness something distressing. She stayed, still too curious for her own good._

_“Why don’t you run?” The Master whispered. “You always run.”_

_The Doctor had an uneasy feeling in her guts. A fussy closed door with images she tried to ignore most of the times, started to shake in the back of her mind._

_No! This couldn’t be true. He promised!_

_“I can’t.” The girl explained, swaying. The Master carefully held her shoulders and she leaned heavily on him._

_“Run!” The Master demanded with trembling voice. “She’s murdering you.”_

_The child looked at him in protest. “She’s just doing what’s necessary. Can’t you see?” The girl laughed feeble. “She’s building an empire, and I’m gonna be the empress – or emperor, who knows who I’ll be then.”_

_But the Doctor could see that this child would’t become anyone – she was dying, the brutal wound right above her hearts was still leaking, not only blood but regeneration energy._

_The Master opened his mouth, and to the Doctor’s horror he looked like Koschei. “Theta-” He whispered, and she froze._

_Had he seen her?_

_She pulled out of his mind, the same second the girl lifted her head. “I’m not Theta.”_

_Her eyes were full of sorrow. “And if you stop her, I never will be.”_

The Doctor scrambled away from the Master, mind still dizzy and scrambled over the floor until she blindly hit the wall. All air seemed to leave her body and she was gasping for breath in shock, trying to hold onto _something_ , but there was nothing!

Nothing, but the uneasy moving body of the Master who dreamed of a child he thought was _her_.

A child that boasted about being an empress someday while being murdered by her mother. The Doctor nearly retched, but this time toppled forward until she lay on the cool floor.

_Not her, not her, not her! That wasn’t her!_

“Doctor?” A sleepy voiced asked. “What’s wrong? I can feel your distress in my _dreams._ ”

_Dreams, dreams, dreams, only dreams._

The Doctor gasped again, considered to struggle against the Master who picked her up and placed her on his lap

“Doctor?!” His voice was a mixture between anger and worry and confusion. “Doctor!”

But she couldn’t – that’s how he saw her, a helpless, dying child. An abomination?

This time she was retching bile, but instead of letting her go, the Master’s fingers found her temples and before the Doctor could pull up her walls, he was in her mind, nudging a telepathic pulse of calmness, before he formed the realm around them until they started to form bodies of physical appearance.

“Doctor.” The Master said again, calm and in her mind. “Do you want to tell me, what happened?”

The question was to atypical for the Master, that the Doctor’s panic subsided for a moment. Long enough for her to consider her possibilities. She had at least two lies, she could tell her friend to convince him, everything was alright.

But instead the Doctor forced her fear of his potential rejection and the rage for invading his mind away and opened the hastily build door to the recent memories.

The Master’s real body froze and the corners of his lips of his psychic image started to fall.

“What?” He began and she could feel the building _anger_ for her invasion. But to the Doctor’s total surprise, it died down as soon as it started. Instead, she could feel _fear._ And hatred, again. But to her horror, it was obvious self-hatred.

The Doctor opened her mouth in protest, her always childish part already screamed the Master’s childhood name in protest.

The Master pulled back, abruptly letting go of her temples and the realm shattered around them.

“Doctor, you-” He growled, and she backed away. “I’m sorry, I drifted off… still not used to being that close to another telepath. I swear, it wasn’t intentionally.”

The Master sighed. “I’m aware of that.”

“What?” She stared at him in shock.

“You were never good in telepathy.” He closed his eyes. “You weren’t meant to see that…” He whispered, voice suddenly exhausted as if he just lost a battle.

“You said– you said–” the Doctor started to stumble over her own words. “You said it didn’t matter. That it _wasn’t me!_ ” Now, she was close to screaming. Or tears. Hard to tell sometimes.

The Master’s barely visibly shaking body showed her, that he too had no idea, what he was feeling. But the Doctor knew that the right words would throw him into another fit of rage.

And to her horror, she felt herself wishing for an outburst.

But he only glared at her with dark eyes. “Yeah, said that.”

“Liar!” The Doctor couldn’t tell where that anger came from. “You liar. You promised-” But the Master was already shaking his head.

“I never promised anything. And you know that!”

The cold look in his eyes made the anger boil in her abdomen even more. “You-”

For better or for worse, heavy steps came towards their little cell and the Master instantly pulled the Doctor back to his chest, covering her mouth with his hand.

It took all her willpower not to bite him.

 _If you don’t want to regenerate in the next minutes, I suggest you do exactly as I tell you!_ The Master growled in her head and this time she bit him. He suppressed a pained curse but to her surprise he didn’t shove her away.

The door opened with a creaking and before the Doctor could remember, that she was sharing the cell with _the Master,_ the man toppled to the floor.

“No!” She screamed, before the Master’s hand was back over her mouth.

“Shut up Doctor!” He growled in her ear. „He’s not dead. And that’s gonna be the death of us, if we don’t run now!”

And so, they did run.

The Master pushed over five guards on their way to freedom and the Doctor had the uneasy feeling, that three of them wouldn’t stand up again.

But all the time she couldn’t find the energy to grieve for them. All she could see was the bloodied girl in his mind. The girl she had never been.

They were going to have a serious talk. And the Doctor had no intention to play calm this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to you for being so amazing! Your comments and kudos are such a motivation.


	4. Responsibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, this must sound like a bad joke by now, but it feels like this story is cursed ._. I had to rewrite this chapter, because it just _vanished_. And I still don’t understand how that was even possible.  
> But hey, I’m not even late, finally back to my schedule and I think this version turned out better, it only got a bit shorter, then the original one… 
> 
> Merry Christmas and happy holidays to anyone who celebrates! Have a great time! 
> 
> Please be careful with this chapter: Warning for violence and implied self-harm.

The Master pulled the Doctor in the TARDIS, who, to both their surprises, didn’t protest this time. Instead, the Doctor was protesting loudly: “We can’t just run away!”

But he ignored her, pushing her away. She stumbled, only just saving herself from falling. The Master tried to take deep breath but he couldn’t – the fear in his stomach was building up every second, already overwhelming him, pushing him deeper and deeper in his rage.

He had no way of stopping it.

When the Doctor tried to storm out of the doors, the Master slammed the dematerialisation lever down, ignoring his friend’s angry scream.

“We can’t just leave them!”

“But that’s what we’re doing. And that’s not what you want to do anyway.”

For a moment the Master was convinced, the that the Doctor would hit him. Instead, she growled stamping her foot like an offended child. It might have been funny if he wouldn’t still see one of the Doctor’s forgotten bodies in his mind, a dying child with a terrible future to come.

The Master was fighting against the fear, that always resulted in anger, but the Doctor wasn’t making it easy for him. Because she was furious, and he could tell that she wasn’t planning on stopping.

“Why would you dream _that_?”

“Oh Rassilon, Doctor. You’re not making me responsible for my _dreams_.”

But a look in her hurt eyes told him, that she was doing exactly that.

“Why would you bring it up? We were _happy._ ”

“Really?” The Master asked calmly, realising how hurt the Doctor was herself, trying to compensate her feeling of betrays with anger. That was unusual. And slightly terrifying.

Especially when she hit him this time, obviously shocked over her own reaction.

But the Master still slammed her hard against the console, the rage was back, bubbling and seething and this time he didn’t want to fight. Instead, dark laugher escaped him. 

“I see, sanctimonious as always. _Pacifist._ ”

The Doctor lunged with a scream after him, but he sidestepped her easily. The Doctor wasn’t used to blind rage.

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.”

With each word she tried to hit him, and he considered to give her another push. But instead, the Master did something that wouldn’t work if he hadn’t planned it multiple times in his mind, thinking of ways how to calm his rage. He grabbed the Doctor’s wrist and pulled her closer until he was hugging her, pressing her face closer.

“I know love. I hate you too.”

The Doctor bit him hard above his collar bone.

The Master cursed, but with a deep breath, all he did was to push her face away. He could feel the rage bubbling in his stomach the same way blood spread blooming at his shirt. He could do that, he could do that – the Doctor pulled a leg up and kicked him in the groin.

With a suppressed scream, he only barely managed to stay on his feet, and this time he pushed the Doctor.

But while she was stumbling backwards, her grip around his wrist only tightened. And out of nowhere a chair slide before the Master – fucking TARDIS – and he stumbled, foot captured, but the Doctor still didn’t let go of his arm. 

And with a nauseous popping the Master’s wrist snapped in two.

He wasn’t sure if he screamed or just went down all at once. White spots were dancing in front of his eyes and the pain made his stomach turn. He could feel the cold floor on his back, but the ceiling wouldn’t stop spinning. He retched, dark spots limiting his field of view.

And then, as fast as it came, it was over.

The Master took a deep breath and slowly sat up again. His wrist was arm was already badly swollen and the try to wiggle a finger nearly left him retching again.

“Doctor!” He growled, ready to let her pay for this.

Only, that she wasn’t answering, and the press of her mind felt strangely weak. Did she seriously run away? Right now?

The Master growled, ready to punish her TARDIS instead, only to stop dead in his tracks. He blinked – Once. Twice. – to be sure he wasn’t imagining things.

The Doctor lay slumped on the floor, a track of blood lead from a bloodied knob on the console to a puddle around her head. Head wounds bleed a lot.

Another deep breath because the rage didn’t calm down.

Because there she was, the great Doctor, knocked out cold, helpless for everything he planned for her. The Master wanted to kick her, to scream at her to make her pain. He could do that! He should!

Another step and he was standing above her. She looked beautiful, an artwork of his destruction. The Master smiled, ignoring the Doctor’s lecture in his mind, back in the Vault that this was _wrong._ But the Doctor had never listened to him.

The Master kicked her helpless body, knowing, that he should feel shame instead of satisfaction. The TARDIs made a noise similar to howling.

“Oh, do shut up. She deserves it. And you know it.”

The TARDIS pushed against his walls with anger.

“You should better stop. I still know how to make yourself useful. And I never had the change to savour the beauty of a paradox machine.”

The Doctor’s ship hissed angry.

He ignored her, bending slowly sinking to his knees to take a closer look at the Doctor. She still hadn’t moved. And a part of him started to worry.

How hard did he push her? The Master couldn’t remember that it had been that brutal.

But when he roughly pulled her up, her head started lolling, leaving a trail of blood.

“Doctor!”

He slapped her, but apart from a barely noticeable twitching she didn’t react.

He didn’t break something, did he? That hadn’t been what he had aimed for and apart from a few moments he wouldn’t enjoy the Doctor with a neuronal issue for long.

With a growl, he slipped out of his coat and waistcoat – and that alone took a while with his broken throbbing wrist, before he bent down and picked her up with one arm, until she was hanging over his shoulder.

The Master could feel how the blood of her wound ran down his back and against his will he felt himself shuddering.

As soon as the TARDIs realised, where he was trying to go, the door of the med bay appeared that fast in front of him, that he nearly run into it.

“Careful.” He explained with a dangerous tone. “I could just drop her. On her head.”

The door jumped open, sparing him to use his injured hand and the Master dropped the Doctor on the bed.

In mere seconds the white pillow was stained in dark orange and this time he felt himself swallowing hard. Yes, he was worried.

It had been his doing, but judging by the Doctor's current appearance, he hadn’t been in control at all. 

The Master could only stop himself from slamming his broken hand in the wall, because he knew he needed to take care of the Doctor. And that wouldn’t work if he pushed away all his anger by changing his feelings.

And Theta had always looked at him with fearful wide eyes, even then not able to understand Koschei’s actions.

The Master kicked the leg of the bed, took another deep breath and finally started to turn on the medical scanner. The screen was filled in seconds with lots of writing, but against his better will the Master felt himself breathing out in relieve.

The Doctor would have bad headache but apart from a – not so mild – concussion, she should be fine.

As if she felt his fight of emotions, the Doctor tossed back and forth in the bed, but the Master only grabbed her, when she threatened to fall out of the bed. Pushing her back in the middle of the bed his finger slide over her unhurt temple while she started to moan in the try to draw herself back to consciousness.

Instead of being the friend she needed, he gave her mind a hard push and with a whimper she drifted off again.

“FUCK!” The Master cursed and kicked the bed again.

He wasn’t better then Tecteun.

The thought came that sudden, that the Master was too shocked to know, what to feel about this realisation. He only knew that his stomach collapsed, and he felt himself taking deep breath.

His body started to sting painfully, suddenly aware of everything – his swollen wrist, the bloodied spot where the Doctor bit him, and her blood, staining the back of his shirt.

Deep breath. He could do that. The Doctor whispered something, and all the air escaped him abruptly.

For once the Master knew exactly what he needed to do. But this didn’t mean that he liked it.

This time he slammed his fist in the wall.

The Doctor felt herself return to consciousness with a painful throbbing in her temple.

What... what happened? Her brain was working far too slow and the Doctor heard herself groaning in protest and pain.

Did they run? The Master had done her hair? There had been a distress call… yes. Yes, the memories started to awake slowly, but she still had no idea why she was laying here with a painful head.

_“Doctor!”_

Did they fight? The Doctor thought, that they had fought. She had been so hurt. She had felt so betrayed.

Someone slapped her.

And with a gasp of breath all the memories came back at once. When the Doctor opened her eyes she could only see shadows above her face.

A dark, familiar shadow, but still a shadow.

“Master?” She whispered and felt so vulnerable and weak. Instantly she tried to sit up, but a strong hand and the sudden nauseous spinning of the wolrd stopped her.

“Oh Rassilon… sorry.” It was strange how easy these words left her mouth and even without seeing her friend’s face, she knew that he was flinching.

“Didn’t think… you know.”

The Master stayed quiet and that worried the Doctor. The room felt strangle stuffed with anger and she could swear she could feel the Master’s always present rage seething.

“Koschei –” She tried calmly, but a firm “Stop!” cut her off.

“I’m not angry… I just want to talk.”

She tried again, turning her head where she suspected his eyes. The Master seemed to sense her discomfort, because his cool fingers suddenly held her chin firmly.

“Hey, what – argh.”

A bright light was pointing at her eyes and she closed them instantly.

“What’s wrong, Doctor?” The Master growled, and yes, she was right, he was still angry, but something else was terrible wrong too.

“Nothing, I’m alri – ouch. Stop that, you’re hurting me.”

Her friend let go of her chin instantly, mumbling something under his breath.

“What’s wrong, Doctor?” He repeated again, calmer this time but with a hidden anger. And that was much more scarier than his outburst.

“I’m alright.” She mumbled again, could already hear him growl. “I don’t see much. But that’s okay, I’ve been blind before and –”

The Master broke something.

“Hey, Master, it’s alright.”

She tried to sit up again, nearly retching but finally bending forward, feeling for the Master’s hand.

He pulled away as soon as their hands met.

“You wanted to know the truth.” He suddenly asked and if there hadn’t been the barely noticeable tremor in her friend’s voice, she would have nearly believed his calmness.

“Well, then hear your truth!” And he started talking that fast, as if he would stop himself if he didn’t. “I _need_ to know the truth. I need to know what happened on Gallifrey all those years ago. I need to know, what happened to you.”

This time his voice broke, but instantly something else broke too.

“Koschei –” The Doctor felt her own voice tremble, everything somehow so, so numb. But the Master was already speaking again. “I know, I said, it doesn’t matter. But I _need to know it_!”

The Doctor could feel all his pain and it nearly made her cry. She reached for his hand again, and this time the Master allowed her touch.

Something was off with his other hand, normally he would have carefully clasp it around her hand as well… She had bitten him, but had she hurt him even more? “Master, what did I do to you?”

“Nothing, love. You’re the Doctor, you never do anything wrong.”

The tone of his voice scared the Doctor all at sudden.

“Master… what is wrong?”

Something cool touched her wrist, but her tired brain needed too long to process the impression. The handcuff snapped around her wrist and with a scream she tried to pull, but the Master pushed her down again.

“What are you doing?” The Doctor yelled, while she could hear how he fastened the other cuff around the bed railing.

“You’ve done that multiple times to me too… only fair.” The Master mumbled.

“What?” She pulled hard on the cuff. “That’s _not_ fair. You had the fucking _Cyberium_ in your head.”

She heard him take a deep breath.

“You need to rest. And we both know that you won’t do that on your own.”

The fear was rising even more. “Yeah, but that’s what you’re for!”

The Master remained silent and now she was panicking. “Koschei!” Her voice started to break. “Koschei, don’t do that to me!”

“Shhh…” She could hear him come closer to the bed, but when the Master spoke, his voice was firm. “I can’t do that… I need a break.” And then, even quieter, while the Doctor felt her airway tighten. “I’m sorry.”

Her fighting spirit blazed up again, and she felt herself pulling at the cuff.

“No, you can’t do that! Master, no!”

But he only bend down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. She couldn’t see his face, but the Doctor felt his tears.

“Koschei – please!”

But he was leaving the room and the Doctor was fighting.

“No, Master, no, you can’t do that! Not like that! I didn’t even see you! Master!” She screamed, but the door closed loudly.

“Master! You promised me decent rainbow clothes!”

Her wrist felt already raw, but the Doctor kept pulling, kept screaming even though the Master wasn’t hearing her anymore. 

“Stop him please, stop him!” She begged the TARDIS but could feel the hesitation of her beloved ship.

“No! stop him, just stop him!” The Doctor yelled again. But her ships’ usual landing noise told her, that even the TARDIS was working against her.

And so, the Doctor screamed herself to unconsciousness while her best friend left. And she couldn’t stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!
> 
> (And sorry for this chapter...)


	5. Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Doctor woke up with a fog before her eyes. She blinked – once, twice.

“What?”

Her voice rasped and she felt her tongue move automatically over her dry lips. Her head hurt and she felt lost. Such an odd emotion.

“Master?” The Doctor whispered – and then, like a blow in the stomach, it all came back to her.

“NO!” The piercing scream that left her mouth shocked her as much as her TARDIS, nudging at her mind, trying to comfort her. But the Doctor pushed the consciousness away. The consciousness of her only true friend.

With another useless scream she pulled her hand up, trying to free her wrist, but as always the Master had planned perfectly accurate when the Doctor would be able to open the cuff.

And it was only after another fitful sleep after what felt like centuries of self-pity, that her blearily eyes finally started to see more than vague shapes.

With a growl the Doctor pushed the glass of water off her bedside table. The glass shattered, water splashing over the floor. The TARDIS whined and all at sudden her anger was gone. She was acting exactly like the Master, hurting her only true friend.

“I’m sorry, old girl.” She whispered with broken voice. “So sorry.”

Tears were back and she pressed her hand before her mouth to stop the devastated sobs that threatened to leave her lips. This time she allowed the TARDIS’ gentle pulse of comfort, the closed thing to a hug her ship was able to do.

She allowed herself to cry silently in the pillow, a stupid, childish part of her still hoping, if she just cried enough, he would come back. Koschei always came whenever Theta had cried himself to sleep.

But the Master didn’t come, only the TARIDS sang her song of time and space and eternity.

When the Doctor opened her eyes the next time, the banging in her head had yielded to an uncomfortable but bearable pounding.

She sat up, eyes wandering over the floor. The TARDIS had cleaned up the mess she had left, as well as a new glass of water. With a few gulps the Doctor drank it all. “Thanks…” She mumbled only to spot the needle where the glass had been seconds ago.

“You traitor.” The Doctor mumbled silently but didn’t mean it. The TARDIS already made an outraged noise.

“Yes, I know…” She sighed and patted the wall. “Sorry, Sexy.”

Her ship withdrew her mind, but the Doctor could swear that she could hear her imitate a cat’s purring before she did so. She laughed shortly and shock her head with a thin grin on her lips.

No wonder she got along with the Master so well – not that the TARDIS would ever admit that. The TARDIS protested immediately, but the Doctor kept her grin, while she worked on the lock.

She would really appreciate her sonic now, but even this needle was all she needed and after a few seconds the Doctor was massaging her red wrist.

A bunch of her clothes appeared on the bed and with a frown the Doctor realised, that she was covered in blood. Mostly her blood judging by the soaked pillow even though the Master had bandaged her head, but the Doctor had the uneasy feeling, that she had hurt the Master more than she could remember.

“I need to find him!”

As fast as she could with her pained head, the Doctor dressed, ignoring her bloodied hair for now, and stormed in the control room. The room was spinning, and she needed to prop herself up, when she finally reached it, but the little sprint had already been good for her.

“Okay, I need your help.”

Of course, the TARDIS started to protest immediately. And it was only after she had circled the console for multiple times, using every function she could thing of to locate him, that her tired brain finally accepted that she couldn’t find him.

Not like that, not _now_. Even though all the Doctor wanted was to wrap her arms around him and never let go, promising every lie to finally keep him.

A stupid, so stupid, desperate part of her felt the tingling need to take the Master prisoner. It wouldn’t be the first time (and the Doctor knew, she would find excuses to justify her means as she always did) and they had been happy.

Finally just two friends. She should have send Nardole away, should have taken Missy in the TARDIS from the beginning – that might have done the trick.

_She could do it again!_

The TARDIS pushed against her mind with a protesting beeping and the Doctor felt herself back in the control room, bile threatening to find its way.

Oh, she was such a bad person. Not a good man at all.

The time rotor started to move so abruptly that the Doctor nearly lost her balance, stumbling, her head once again swimming in fog.

“You found him?” She whispered. “You really did?!”

The TARDIS made a sad, silent beeping, but the Doctor didn’t listen. She already stormed out of the doors, ready to grab the Master and find a way to never let him go – “what?“

Three arm guards looked at her, heads cocked, guns directed at her head.

“Hiya there.”

She was back on this cursed planned where all of this started. Silently she cursed the TARDIS – yes, she was right, these people still needed rescue from their dictatorship – before she gave the guards a sweet smile and did the thing she was good at: running, while gunshots followed her.

In the end it was too easy to defeat the dictator with a very well organised rebel group and for a few moment the Doctor expected an ambush – the Master crushing her attempt, laughing at her. (The Doctor thought she might would laugh with him).

But no, it turned out it only had been a really bad dictators (or a good one?). Her thoughts started to drift again, and so she barely realised the girl, giving her a longing look. It would be so easy, just take her hand and pull her inside the TARDIS… so easy…

No! Not now. Not like that. The Master would never forgive her, and besides, there were still Graham, Yaz and Ryan, even though they probably already forgot her. And even Leeoran whom she promised to come back. Maybe.

And so she only gave the nameless girl a equal longing look, waved at the rebels and stepped back in her TARDIS.

There was still not a single trace from the Master. And the Doctor knew deep in her hearts that he didn’t want to be found. And as long as he hid like that, she would never be able to find him.

In this moment, the Doctor made a choice. A choice that hurt as much as it made her hearts jump in anticipation.

The TARDIS hummed in agreement and the Doctor pulled the lever down.

Still mid flight and her ship hummed again, gently giving her the impulse to go to a bathroom.

“Huh?”

The TARDIS hummed again and finally her finger brushed through her hair. She had pulled the bandage away somewhere on her second escape and none of the rebels had bothered with her bloodied hair.

But her friends would, the Doctor realised, while she combed through dried bits of clotted blood.

Yes, she should take a shower.

The TARDIS would make sure not to land to early – or just move the bathroom in another time zone. That worked as well.

Sometimes, when her friends needed to sleep and the Doctor couldn’t cope with her terrible thought that threatened to overwhelm her, she asked her ship to move her room in a different time zone, so that the ten hours of her friends were done in mere minutes for her.

Not that the TARDIS agreed much in doing this, but she did it anyway. (She never needed to do it with the Master, her friend would always understand…)

And while the warm water run her fingers combed through the hair, dissolving the last thing the Master did with a kind intent. The last remains of her braid were flushed away with the water.

The Doctor stood there, watching how the water finally stopped being coloured with her blood, and closed the tap. A few left drops pattered on her back and she wondered, if she had just stayed in the shower with the Master, would he still be there?

The TARDIS did divert her thought from the Master thus she suddenly had a towel in her face.

“Thanks, old girl.” The Doctor growled, but the newest sound told her, that her ship was laughing.

She rolled her eyes, but a thin smile stayed on her face – until she stepped in front of the sink.

“What is this doing here?!”

Just a flicker in the mirror – that had no right to be here in the first place, what was the TARDIS trying to show her? – and the warrior cooked his head, dark, unrelenting eyes drilling into her mind.

The Doctor blinked, for a second the face she wore for a while now, appeared in front of her but the shadow of her past stayed with her, still observing her through eyes that could never change.

The Doctor wondered if that was the reason the Master had left in the end – the constant threat of a monster, lurking under the surface.

She forced her gaze to ignore those eyes, seeing the face. She looked alright, she guessed. (The Master had called her stunning…)

Her hair was too long. Her friends would realise immediately how long it had been for her. 

Sister of Mine stared at her, probably shocked to see her so soon again. But the Doctor shooed her away, she didn’t need this being, wearing the dead body of child to remind her of other horrors, other pain.

No – hair. Yes. Hair.

The truth was, that she started to like her hair, but impulsive she grabbed the scissors and started with the tips before her mind could find an excuse to keep them as they were. (And excuse that involved the Master.)

And with every cut the last weeks left her as the pile of hair lying around her. The Doctor nearly felt relieved. Back to something she knew. She knew how it worked, she had always loved this life and always would.

Except, that a nearly silent part by now, constantly reminded her, that it had been her failure in the friendship with Koschei that damned her to spend her life with human friends instead of the Master. But the Doctor hated that part of her as much as the eyes that looked at her out of every mirror.

And so she didn’t spend another thought on it, got dressed as fast as possible and left the room without another thought of her best friend, who by now probably was her best enemy again (to be honest, he had always been her best enemy…)

“How do I look?” She asked her ship back in the control room. The TARDIS laughed again, but the Doctor rolled her eyes. The ends of her hair looked a bit fuzzy but otherwise her fam wouldn’t see the difference.

She hoped.

The TARDIS materialised and the Doctor took a deep breath, bringing the usual sparkling back in her eyes – before she could even take another step, someone knocked.

No – someone was banging against the door, calling her name. “Doctor, is that you? Doctor?”

Two steps and she opened the door and before the Doctor could even say a thing a bundle of human jumped in her arms.

“Oh my god, Doctor.”

Warm arms wrapped around her tightly and even though the first impulse of her body was to get stiff, her mind was faster and carefully touched the girl on the back.

“Hiya, Yaz.”

“Doctor!”

The young woman didn’t let go of her for another few seconds until the Doctor carefully pushed her away.

“I knew it!” Yaz beamed with joy. “I knew it!”

“Of course you knew it.” The Doctor grinned at her. “What did you know?”

This time Yaz stared at her in a mixture of shock and confusion. “That you‘re not _dead_.”

“Oh… yes, definitely not dead the last time I checked.”

“Where have you been?”

“Nowhere.” The Doctor lied with a grin. “Just found my TARDIS and here I am.”

Yaz was still staring at her, in a way… _Rose_ had looked at her. “You alright, Yaz?”

Wordless the young woman pulled her through the door on a well known comfy sofa.

“Wait, that‘s Grahams house. Why are you here? Where is Graham and Ryan, and -”

But Yaz wasn’t listening, still staring at her and suddenly the Doctor was back in another hug. “I missed you so much, Doctor.”

“Missed you too, Yaz. Missed my fam. Where’s my fam?”

Yaz slowly let go of her. “Graham and Ryan are back in a second, they are bringing Ravio back to the others and –”

“Wait? Ravio? The Ravio?”

Her friend rolled her eyes. “Yes, the Ravio you saved from the Cyber War. She’s alright. And the others too.” Suddenly, she grinned widely.

“And she likes Graham. A lot.”

It took the Doctor a while to realise what Yaz was trying to tell her. “Wait? Like he likes Grace?”

Her friend rolled her eyes about the Doctor’s answer.

“Maybe.” Yaz said finally. “At least some day. It’s still to soon after Grace, and I don’t think Ryan could cope with it just now… But they’re happy. You gave her a life. Her and all the other survivors.”

Yaz sounded proud and for a few moment the Doctor felt like a little child, beaming with joy about a compliment.

“They saved themselves.” She whispered and before Yaz could find the time to answer, started bubbling again. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“Ahm… We meet sometimes, to talk about our times with you… scroll through the news to take care of potential alien invasion.” Her friend made a pause where the Doctor could stare at her. “Well, mostly me. But I found a really interesting –”

The door opened all at sudden and two well know faces stared at her in shock with wide eyes. 

“Hi!” The Doctor smiled at her friends.“My fam’s there!”

“Doc?” Graham asked while Ryan still stared at her in shock. Finally, he opened his mouth, but all that came out was a desperate: “I thought you were _dead_!”

“No, not dead.” She smiled. “Just picked my TARDIS up.”

“Well, Doc, you took a _while._ ”

“Did I?” The Doctor frowned. “How long?” The TARDIS wouldn’t have messed it up _again_.

“Months. Nearly a _year._ ” 

“Ah…” The Doctor felt her hearts drop. Not again. “So, it’s…?”

“Nearly New Year’s Eve.”

Ryan realised that she was still staring at them in confusion. “2020.”

“Oh, yes 2020, rubbish year. I’m glad I missed that.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow and the Doctor felt Yaz’ piercing gaze in here back. She had said something wrong.

“You couldn’t have told us that before.” Ryan said slowly.

“Sorry, kind of busy.” Busy keeping the one man alive they would probably love to see dead. She was a shitty friend. 

“Sorry.” She mumbled and Graham patted her shoulder with a helpless look.

Somehow they ended on the comfy sofa with three humans staring at her as if she was a ghost. Maybe she _was_ a ghost?

Thankfully Yaz started talking again, where she had left before this awkward moment. Moments later the Doctor wished she hadn’t said a thing.

“We found this announcement of some ‘Defence Drones’. Looks a lot like a Dalek.”

The Doctor felt her hearts miss a beat. “Yeah… defence drones… what are they up to now?” She grinned the widest grin and hoped her friends wouldn’t realise how fake it was. Humans, always making the same mistakes.

“So, what you’re gonna do?” Graham asked and it hurt, that he wasn’t saying ‘we‘.

“Well, I’ve got a time machine and a brilliant fam, so lets solve the problem.”

Yaz was grinning at once, but Ryan lowered his eyes and Graham gave her that strange look.

“Sorry, Doc.” He said and finally broke the silence. “I don’t think I can do that again… You’ve been gone for months… I build myself a life. I grieved for you… I‘m not sure I can do that again.”

A well known pain instantly filled her hearts but on the other hand: she was _so proud_ of him. So proud for letting go and deciding to _live._

“Sure Graham, I’m happy for you. Truly.” She could only hope that her voice didn’t sound as hollow as she felt.

“Doc… I’m sorry. And I still want some trips with you… but not like we did. I can’t lose you like that again.”

A part of her couldn’t believe he was worrying for _her_ , but another part instantly saw Grace’ broken body and the guild that followed her since then.   
In most timelines Grace had lived. And maybe, if she hadn’t been that confused because of her recent regeneration – it would have been so easy to bend the time streams and make her _live._

“Ryan?” She asked gently but already knew the answer. He wouldn’t leave his grandfather behind and as assumed, her friend only shrugged helpless. “Sorry Doctor…” 

“Don’t be sorry.” She gave him a wide grin. _I’m so proud of you_. But she couldn’t say that out loud.

“Well, I’m off then.” She gave all of them a wide grin, ignoring Yaz’ offended look, before the girl started to grin seconds later. Yes, she knew it as much as the Doctor. She didn’t need to ask Yasmin Khan – everyone already knew the answer.

The Doctor just hoped it wouldn’t cost her life.

“Don’t leave just now! Please Doc, let’s talk –”

But the Doctor interrupted Graham before the guild could overwhelm her. “I’ve got a Dalek on my list.”

She could hear Ryan mumble “You’ve got a time machine…” And instantly realised that this clever young man had read her intentions better than Graham and Yaz. _Clever boy, Ryan._ And she very nearly pulled him in a hug for opening his eyes and seeing her as she was.

“Gonna miss you fam!”

She should show emotions, they deserved a proper goodbye and yet... It was easier to run off before her friends, still busy realising that she was _alive_ , could understand what she was doing. It would hurt less. It was better.

And so the Doctor reached her hand for the young woman who wouldn’t be more than a little child on her planet, and she was going to take her out in the anger of the universe. Her hand dropped, but Yaz hadn’t seen it yet.

There was no need to. The young woman had the widest possible grin on her face, hugged Ryan and Graham, who still were too shocked to even try to stop her just now and the Doctor felt like the monster in the mirror.

She would destroy her life.

Not that it mattered. The girl gave her the biggest smile and stepped trough the TARDIS’ doors before the Doctor had even blinked.

Yes, this was Yasmin Khan.

And she followed her not looking back and pulled the dematerialisation lever before her traitors hearts could howl in pain. Everything would be alright, the Doctor lied to herself while she smiled at Yaz, everything would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time I tried to write the fam, I hope I got their characters and the way the Doctor interacts with them right.   
> If you read this when it’s published, lots of fun tonight with the newest episode! Can’t wait to see what happens.


	6. Ashes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are small spoilers of the New Year’s Special in this chapter. I tried to be very vague, but you might want to keep that in mind if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

Orange dust was swirling with every step the Master took, the air still stung of ash. Gallifrey, in all its destruction, was beautiful. The Master closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of all the death and freedom and justice and _peace_.

He was smiling.

After all the time in the Vault, the Doctor never managed to teach him how to stop feeling this delight. All he ever did was to explain with calm voice why all these feelings were _wrong,_ and the Master had heard the disgust in every carefully selected word.

But he couldn’t see anything wrong in relishing in the justice he brought to the Time Lords. Even the Shebogan, fortunate enough to be descendant of the people who fought against the alteration of their DNA, never stood up for the child – _the Doctor –_ who was tortured to death right in front of them.

Sometimes he thought of the children – innocent, naïve children like his own daughter had been. There hadn’t been any joy in the murder of children, it had always been an unspoken rule of the Master to avoid any harm directed at children, but he had felt so much calmness, freeing them of the burden to come. Freeing them of the ruthless Time Lords they had been destined to become.

The aftermath of the death particle was still in the air, an uncomfortable tickling on his skin, the dead plants, the total silence of any organism. It all reminded him that the Doctor had come back to save him from this destiny.

Oh, he loved this eternal being that once had been nothing but a small boy with wide eyes and a catching laugher. The Master loved her and he _hated_ her more than he could ever describe in any words no matter how many languages he would know.

He wondered if it had always been that way, even when he had been eight years old and grateful for this weird kid who looked at him with curiosity instead of pity in his eyes.

Only that Theta Sigma had been thousands of years old when they first met – and yes, the Doctor had kept assuring him that she didn’t care, didn’t _want_ to know and yet… there was a reason why he was walking straightaway to a Matrix chamber.

He passed several of his broken Cybermasters, wondering how many of them he had known in their previous live. Maybe he had made Borusa dance after his command.

Or Brax.

And strangely enough the thought of the Doctor’s brother – who couldn’t be her brother, not really –made him swallow hard.

No matter what she said about him – the Master knew that she had loved him. And he hadn’t been the only one, even though the Doctor had avoided Gallifrey, and would have been doing that for the rest of her long, long life, there had always been people on this butchered planet that had had a place in the Doctor’s hearts.

But still, the Master thought while preparing to enter the Matrix, he would take them away from her with joy all over again.

The Master wondered if his foolish friend was aware how easy it would be to bring them back anyway. It would be a piece of cake to repair the looms – the Matrix was still intact. After that it wouldn’t take long to bring this abhorrent planet back to life.

And if he really wanted to, there would be a way to bring back the Shebogans, too.

But with a bitter grin on his lips the Master pushed himself deep inside the Matrix. There was a reason why he would never do that.

_The Master was so used to the Matrix by now, that it didn’t take him long to dive down the lives of all those dead Time Lords before he reached the memories of that one life changed his own view on the universe._

_He entered a room that obviously belonged to a child. A child who was being spoiled with tons of toys. Tons of toys and books that were perfectly sorted in shelves, not one out of place. An unknowing person might have thought the child lived their dream life, spoiled by their parents, even lucky enough to be speared of tidying up._

_But the Master knew it better. Living with a child, even a flawless one as his daughter had been, had taught him one thing: tidiness like this didn’t exist in a child’s room for more than two seconds._

_And while observing that seemingly spotless room he felt a terrible shudder run down his back. That was a kind of horror he feared._

_And horror this_ child _actually had to endure, because all the perfection was only a mock to the child, lying on the floor. She was breathing hard, blood leaving her mouth with every breath she took_

_She had the appearance of a little girl with blonde hair, actually similar to the Doctor’s body as Theta Sigma or even her current body. That made it even worse._

_In his head all these children used the name_ Theta _because they were so clearly the Doctor in the way they laughed and smiled and cooked their head or even just closed their eyes. Their complete body language screamed_ I am the Doctor _no matter how much the Doctor was denying their existence._

_And the Master wanted to storm to the child who lay curled up on the floor, eyes closed, somewhere between sleep and unconsciousness, to pick her up, rocking her, telling her that everything was alright now, he would make sure of it!_

_Only, that the Master couldn’t do a thing. This child had so much to endure so much more agony just so he could be born in the first place._

_If not for anything else this fact would haunt him for eternities, always be that little part of him that nudged him to overdo it, more and more and more and more – and one day it might kill him finally. The Master hoped that he would have the courage to die with a smile on his lips._

_The Doctor would howl in anger if she could hear his thoughts, but another look to her past told him, that this innocent girl wouldn’t object his tries to save her._

_Either way, the Doctor wasn’t there and judging by the way she recklessly threw away_ two _regenerations to save his stupid life, she would wait for him anyway before he could even think about doing something reckless._

_The girl groaned, her eyes fluttering while she instinctively tried to pull herself up. Her thin arms shuddered before she went down again, small fingers feebly reaching for her head. She pulled a grimace and everything inside the Master screamed at him to find a way to pick her up and run away._

_But instead, the door opened and his hearts instantly inflamed with hatred._

_Tecteun entered the room, a shocking neutral look on her face. As soon as she saw the girl on the floor, her features changed to annoyance and the Master stared at this memory construct with disgust._

_“What are you doing on the floor,_ again _?”_

_The child cracked her eyes opened, watching the approaching woman with a scaring calmness in her young eyes, but didn’t say a word._

_Tecteun bend down to her and pulled the girl up. The Master could see that she seemed to care – to some extend she must have done, why else would she have brought an alien child with her? – but her movements appeared to be calculated and the child moaned in discomfort (or worse, pain?) when she was forced to stand on her feet._

_“Lay down, little one.” She gently pushed her on the bed and the girl’s eyes grew wide. “Mother!” She was fighting, eyes wide and a pleading look on her face._

_“You need to rest, little one. All these toys are waiting for you.”_

_She wasn’t crying, but the Master saw the desperation he felt so many times as a little boy himself. But it_ _was only when the girl was struggling to get back to the floor, that the Master realised the horror this child must feel whenever she was forced to lie on a bed. Her last body had_ died _in a bed._

_Nausea rose in him so abruptly that the Master could feel his real body retch in desperation._

_“You need to be strong if we want to build an eternal empire.”_

_How could everyone call_ him _crazy, when this woman obviously lost it. What kind of monster would hurt a child like that, for something as stupid as regeneration energy?_

More than you want to think about _. A dark voice whispered in his head. And yes, maybe that was true, maybe it was still him who wasn’t made for this world – but it filled him with disgust to imagine that all these brutal experiments gave him his life._

_A part of the Doctor, inside him._

_And suddenly, it was too much. With a howl that nearly scared the Master himself, he catapulted himself out of the Matrix._

The Master opened his eyes, feeling tears all over his face. With a growl he kicked the closed thing to him, not even caring what it was, before he scratched his face until he was sure, that nothing of these useless tears were left.

He could help this child.

All he needed to do, was walk back to his TARDIS and break down the program that forced Time Lords to always meet in order – with Gallifrey gone it would be even easier than usual. Only that he would create a terrible paradox.

Not only would the Master instantly stop existing – he could live with the thought of that. The Master laughed darkly. Funny. No need to live with _anything_ in life or death without ever been born in the first place. 

But worse, _his Doctor_ would never exist. All the regeneration that would follow that child might never even call themselves Doctor, at all. But no matter in which timeline, the Master couldn’t live with the thought of erasing _his_ Doctor.

And so, he only scratched his face again, forcing the tears away until drips of blood run down his face instead.

If nothing else _that_ made him a monster. An egoistic, selfish monster, that shouldn’t deserve a second glance of the Doctor.

And yet he knew that he needed to talk with her, or else their next meeting would end in another catastrophe. And the Master feared that he reached the point when there wouldn’t be any second chances for him. No forgiveness for him he never deserved in the first place. 

The Doctor wasn’t sure what to make out of Yaz’ behaviour. She was acting _weird._

She had been the same old Yaz she had met on this train, all those years ago, while they had figured out what was behind those ‘Defence Drones’ her fam had mentioned. Turned out it actually had been Daleks – very nearly. They had stopped a naïve man getting killed by his own try to clone himself a Dalek army.

 _Humans._ The Doctor wondered if all of them had a secret death wish. Or if most of them were just really stupid. She could hear the Master laugh in her head and she very nearly believed he actually was there.

Poor Leo Rugazzi, devastated that Yaz and the Doctor hadn’t hesitated twice to destroy every piece of his experiment, eventually had given them a hint that eventually had led the two friends to a well known face.

And while Yaz had been growling at Jack Robertson – the Doctor _very nearly_ felt sorry for him – how they first encountered him with giant spiders and now _Daleks,_ the Doctor had made sure that the humans wouldn’t build themselves robots in the image of the deadliest race in the universe.

And now they were sitting on a comfy sofa inside the TARDIS and the Doctor wondered why Yaz was giving her that _look_.

They had saved the Earth and the young woman had no idea how different it could have turned out. Multiple timelines had knitted themselves together, a constant itching all over the Doctor’s body that told her, that so many possible timelines didn’t end that well in the slightest.

Death had been tickling over her whole body, flashes of people dying with a well-known _‘Exterminate’_ and the Doctor was still shuddering while thinking about it. 

Of course, Yasmin Khan had no idea about all of this, but her look still hurt and the guilt in the Doctor’s stomach started to seethe again.

“Are you alright, Yaz?” She asked eventually, after a weird, so unusual, silence had started to spread across them. “Tell me what happened in your life. Ten months… I guess that’s long for humans?”

Her friend lifted her head and a hesitating smile appeared on her face. “I passed my probation.“

“That’s great, congratulations, Yaz!” The Doctor beamed with joy immediately. She was aware, even though she had tried to ignore it most of the times, that their travel had stopped the young woman from building up her own life _without_ her.

Yaz’ smile was looking more and more afflicted. “Yaz?”

“Where have you been?” She asked, accusingly. “You’ve been gone for _ten months!_ ”

The Doctor forced herself to smile. “Told you, just picked up my TARDIS.”

Yasmin Khan crossed her arms. “We were worried!”

The Doctor could swear, that her friend would have pushed her hard, if they wouldn’t be sitting.

“I’m sorry.” She said, and truly meant it, even though little Amy Pond danced in front of her eyes and reminded her, that Yaz was lucky, that it hadn’t been more than ten months.

The young woman was still crossing her arms.

“What happened there… on Galli…frey?” Her struggling with the name of the Doctor’s home world actually gave her the time to fight back for all the accusation, that for sure would come now.

“Yeah, it’s Gallifrey, this actually means, they that walk in the shadows but –”

“Doctor!” Yaz interrupted her loudly. “Stop distracting me. I saw it. It was a massacre. What happened after we left?”

“Ko Sharmus detonated the bombe…” The Doctor heard herself whispering – if nothing else, that was a truth her friend deserved. Even if it was just to give her the change to mourn this man.

But Yaz shook her head. “Yeah, guessed that much. But what happed with the Master. And where have you _actually_ been?”

“Does it matter?” And suddenly her voice was cold.

“Yeah, it kind of does.” Her friend was angry, the Doctor could clearly hear it. “I thought you were _dead._ Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

The Doctor opened her mouth and closed it again. She couldn’t – no… she didn’t want to tell Yaz. To talk about all that happed made it real. And took her best friend another time away from her.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She finally said, but Yaz seemed to seethe internally. “You _never do_. That’s not how friendship works!” And suddenly her eyes grew wide.

“But that’s not what I am for you, is it? Just… just a _distraction_?” But she seemed surprised of her own accusation and the Doctor couldn’t snap at her, not know, not when her words weren’t that wrong… “I’m not your friend, am I?”

“Of course, you are!” The Doctor answered immediately, sounding much more offended than she expected herself. “You’re my best friend.”

 _Like Ryan, and Graham, and Jo, and Amy, and Leela, and Rose and Sarah and –_ Yaz was giving her a weird look. She looked… as if she was pitying her.

“Doctor… I’m not sure you see friendship the way I see it.” She explained carefully but her thoughts were too loud to ignore, and the Doctor could hear her friend’s mind scream: _you don’t understand friendship_. And there was this pity, this hurt.

“Of course, I do!” She protested. “You’re my friend!” Just not like the Master. Nobody would ever be her friend like the Master. The Doctor didn’t want anyone to be like the Master!

“But then why don’t you talk with me?”

 _Because it hurts._ “Knowledge is danger.” Her brother had told her something similar when little Theta had tried to steal some books that were taken away from him. And the Doctor was sure, she had looked the same way that Yaz looked at her now.

 _Liar!_ Her friends mind was screaming, but she seemed exhausted. “Yeah, sure, I get it.” She hesitated for a moment. “You don’t mean it, do you?”

 _No, you don’t get it_ , the Doctor wanted to scream. Instead, she forced herself to smile, a thin, so fake smile. Yaz made a displeasing sound.

“Do you really think it’s gonna work like that?”

The Doctor took a deep breath and forced her old eyes to look into Yaz’ so innocent gaze. Her friend was right, she owed her _some kind_ of an explanation.

“What do you need to know?”

For a second her friend actually smiled, but then words left her lips, that made the Doctor shudder. “Where is the Master?”

“I don’t know… I left him on Gallifrey when Ko Sharmus exploded the bomb.” No lies – kind of – but still far away from the truth.

“So the Master is dead?”

“No, he isn’t.” The Doctor could only hope that Yaz couldn’t hear the total relief in her voice.

“Where is he?” Yaz asked again, this time with fear in her words. It hurt, even though the Doctor knew, that she should be relieved that her friend understood the Master that well.

“I don’t know.” That wasn’t even a lie, but Yaz next words shocked her to a extend she hadn’t expected.

“Are you gonna trace him down him? Hand him over to justice? _Kill him?_ ”

The Doctor stared at her friend in shook. “You’re a police officer!”

“And he is a mass murderer who wiped out your planet. Don’t you think he deserves some kind of punishment?”

The truth was, that the Doctor hadn’t even thought about that. The thought to _punish_ the Master hadn’t come to her mind in centuries. To help him, cure his unrestricted rage, save the universe from his destruction – yes. But to punish him? Never.

Yaz was still staring at her. “Doctor?”

“He’s the last of my kind?” It stung worse than when this had actually been true. “I can‘t…”

And suddenly she felt helpless and alone. “He was my best friend.” The words left her mouth without her consent. “Much more than that… I just _can’t._ ” Suddenly she was on her feet.

“Doctor!”

She very nearly stormed out of the room but the worry in her friend’s voice made her still instantly. She forced her face to take a neutral expression, only hoping, that Yaz hadn’t seen how much these words had felt like a personal attack of her soul.

“Doctor?” This time her voice was calm, gently.

“I guess he does…” The Doctor finally said with a stern expression in her voice. Her voice echoed hollow in her ears. “For sure he does, you’re completely right.“ She took a deep breath, not able to ignore the relief in Yaz’ eyes.

“But I don’t think that matters, not now. I don’t know where he is.”

Yaz’ next words were gentle but stern, too. “But don’t you think, we should alarm someone who’s responsible for his crimes? Some space police?”

The Doctor suppressed a laugher. As if the _Shadow Proclamation_ could stop the Master. But she didn’t try to stop her friend, who just went on. “Or did _you_ already informed someone?”

This time she stopped and the Doctor gave her a crooked smile. “Don’t worry, Yaz.”

This seemed to offend her. “But I _am_ worrying. How would you feel to know someone like the Master knows where you live? Knows about your family!“

The Doctor nearly sighed loudly. “Actually, he knew my family.” And her children had loved their Koschei, always fighting to get his full attention.

Yaz opened her mouth, uncertain what to say next. A small “But-” was all what left her lips, before the Doctor interrupted her.

“Don’t worry, Yaz. And I mean it. He won’t hurt you or your family.”

”I don’t believe you!” Yasmin Khan explained with a snort and crossed her arms.

“And I promise you, anyway. The Master is _my_ responsibility.” The words sounded much harsher than the Doctor had intended, but strangely enough she didn’t feel bad.

Yaz gave her a look of disbelieve, but the Doctor didn’t allowed herself to feel any guilt, clapping her hands and jumping up in anticipation.

“Anyway, didn’t I promise you to visit Barcelona? The planet. I love this planet! But I haven’t been there for years, actually.”

She gave her friend a beaming smile. Yaz was still looking critical, but eventually her expression softened. She was probably tired of this useless argument, too.

“I would love to see Barcelona.” She said with a smile and the Doctor could feel, that she meant it, even though there was still a storm on the edges of her mind, ready to start the discussion again.

But the Doctor made sure not to give her friend any chance to bring the topic back. Hiding the fear she actually shared with her friend about the Master, she pulled Yaz to the control room, jumping around more than usual while she programmed her ship.

They were going to have a lot of fun, she promised herself and gave Yaz a wide grin who eventually started to respond to it with an equally wide smile on her face. There were going to have a great time.

And nobody, especially not the Master, would stop them.


	7. Play

The Master took his time before he accepted, that he wasn’t going to find anything useful in the width of the Matrix today. Hours and hours of memories that didn’t explain him what actually happened with the Division, and how this young man with the cruel look in his eyes ended up as the bouncy little Theta who would be known in the universe for his kindness.

The Master shook his head. This wasn’t true. At least not in this way. He had always seen the darkness billow in his best friend’s whole being – but in contrast to him the Doctor was in control of this ever-present darkness.

And a cruel part of him laughed, because, of course _she was so much more than him_.

After that he stormed through the remains of the Capitol and ravaged through the remaining structures until new flames were feasting on the ever-present death of the Time Lords.

They would have liked that – a constant reminder of their superiority; even in death.

And the Master laughed until he was shaking, his face wet with tears while he was walking back to his TARDIS.

 _Born to rule…_ if anything the planet had been destined to be a grave. The little child – the _timeless_ child – often talked in the memory constructs, how they would rule the empire they were building. The Master didn’t know if that ever happened or if they ended up in the Division right away.

But maybe that was the sparkle of superior he had always seen in Theta’s eyes. The sparkle that still mislead him to believe that if he just found the right words she would rule by his side. That dream never stopped, not even after all these years. 

The Doctor would be a beautiful ruler. She would be his Queen, his King, and he would be with her, side by side, as they had always dreamed.

But instead, he was standing in the ruin of the planet that made them to monsters, destined to wreck each other’s whole being.

With a last look to the flames the Master stepped into his TARDIS and send her int the Vortex. One of the screens reflected him and he flinched away from the broken man. His face was smeared with tears, dried blood and ashes, the hair was ruffled and charred. But worst of all were the eyes. Dark, unforgiving pits of cruelty, so lifeless and _broken._ After all, the Doctor did break him.

And worst of all, the Master could still see the flicker of the boy who had once been called Koschei, silently begging him. But he couldn’t remember what his childish past was begging for. Not that it mattered. He would have probably ignored him anyway.

It took him a while, before the Master could stop staring at that distorted reflection, washed himself, and made sure to cut the charred tips of his hair. Only when an arrogant version of himself grinned back at him out of another mirror, did he activated the scanner that was always looking for the Doctor’s TARDIS in his linear timeline.

It didn’t take him long to locate her. The Doctor had landed her ship on a little planet with barely more than a few wild plants (but the wild should be taken very serious in this case). What was she up to?

To his irritation it wasn’t the Doctor who walked in front of his TARDIS, masked as a slim tree. She followed seconds later but by then the Master was already growling at the screen, eyes fixed on that stupid human pet of hers.

It was the girl she had already brought with her when they had met for the first time in their current bodies. It had been so easy to frighten her, so easy to give her a look, a sweet smile and see how she blushed.

Stupid girl.

They Doctor was – as always – bubbling nonstop. Her pet didn’t seem to react, only nodding or mumbling a muffled respond now and then. Not that the Doctor cared anyway. She looked happy, nearly carefree between all those trees. For a second her gaze found his TARDIS, eyes staying there just a bit to long, before she shook her head and continued babbling.

The Master exhaled a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding.

He wondered if it would be easier, if it would be the Doctor who found him and not the other way around. Probably. At least it would be easier for him – pretending not to care was so much easier than showing feelings he still didn’t understand in the slightest.

Only that her pet would ruin everything. The Master sighed, but apart from a kick to the console he he stayed calm.

This was just as he knew the Doctor – barely an hour on her own and with a pet clinging to her as if they would drown without the almighty being of the Doctor. It shouldn’t make him angry, Theta had been like this since the Master had known them – but it still hurt.

And that brought the rage to life much faster than many things. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He closed his eyes, took deep breath and reminded himself _why_ he was here. There was no sense in screwing his plan to rage over this little planet until all that remained was a smoking bile of dust. Not that this wouldn’t get the Doctor’s attention – a part of him wondered, if it wouldn’t make it much easier when he acted exactly the way she expected it from him. 

But to his own surprise he didn’t. Instead, the Master observed the TARDIS for a while. Only when he was sure, that the Doctor’s pet was probably in bed – many hours had passed by now and the TARDIS was still there, so that was a good sign – did he carefully left his own ship, patted the doorframe, and closed the door.

He had considered landing his own TARDIS inside the Doctor’s ship – that _would_ make things much easier – but judging by the way he left, the current mood of the TARDIS wouldn’t be the best, so not a good idea if didn’t want all of her alarms ringing in ear-piercing volume.

And so, he had made sure to park in a reasonable distance, cursing himself for not once, in all these weeks, considering stealing a key, and pulled the door handle of this ancient TARDIS. As expected, nothing but an annoyed buzzing happened.

 _Let me in!_ The Master tried to persuade the TARDIS, but she was only laughing at him. Typical. He growled and started pulling again. For a being that clever, she was especially stubborn refusing to communicate with words.

He took a deep breath before he pressed his face close to the door, actually whispering this time. “I believe we already had this conversation, _Old Girl.”_ Like him the TARDIS liked being called by chosen names – and the Master generously ignored that it was the Doctor who gave her that name. (And under no circumstances he would call her _Sexy._ )

The ship laughed again, and the Master felt the anger in him starting to boil. “Let. Me. In.” He growled, only just stopping himself to bang at her in the rhythm of his words.

As an answer the TARDIS pushed against his mind, hard. The Master stumbled backwards, falling on his buttocks and scrambled back to his feet. This time he very nearly banged against the doors. Not that would help him coming in inconspicuous.

He took a deep breath, reminding himself, that he _could_ control this anger to some extend – there had always been a reason why he felt worthy for his chosen name.

“I’m not here to hurt her.” He started with charming voice. The TARDIS was unimpressed. “Believe it or not, I only want to talk. _Please, let me in.”_

This did the trick.

And while the Master carefully pushed open the doors he wondered, if the Doctor was aware, that she picked up a ship, that was resembling him far too much for being a time-space-capsule.

He sighed and then he could _smell_ it. The human. Really recent, all over the ship. Disgusting. How did the Doctor stand this?

The Master sighed, but the anger was starting to awake again. The TARDIS nudged against his shields again, warning this time. _I know!_ He growled at her, projecting his intents. That seemed to calm her down.

_Where is she?_

Instead of an answer he only got a picture of the human girl, pacing up and down her room. Great, so the human was still awake. Shouldn’t she be asleep? Even in all his years he had spend on Earth by know, the Master still had his moments, where he was astonished about the amount of sleep they needed. They oversleep half their life!

 _Yes, I’ll be careful._ He assured, pushing his thoughts away, the TARDIS laughed again, but allowed him to enter the depth of the corridors.

It didn’t take him long to realise, that the TARDIS was playing with him. How _long_ would it take her to come to terms with the things he did centuries ago?

Forever as it seemed, the Master decided when he slipped on the floor that hadn’t been wet seconds ago.

“I get it!” He growled through clenched teeth. “But then why let me in in the first place?” The ship laughed in his head and so he very nearly didn’t hear the fast-beating single heart and the suppressed gasp.

Slowly, still on his knees he turned around. _Traitor!_ He hissed the TARDIS, but the ship ignored her.

The Master had to give her credits for not screaming when he carefully stood up again. Instead, her eyes got wide, her mouth opened like a gasping fish, and she took a step backwards, instantly her hands found the first item she could get her hands on – a purple umbrella.

Yes, the TARDIS _was_ playing with him. And using the Doctor’s pet to accomplish her aim. He wondered what her pilot would say to this.

The Master gave the human a wide smile. “Yasmin, so nice to see you again.”

When he took a step in her direction, her fists clenched hard, and the next second the pulled a hammer out of the cupboard she passed by. The Master raised an eyebrow, more for the TARDIS than this terrified human.

“Is that really necessary, Yasmin?” He asked sweetly.

Instead of an answer the girl finally spoke: “How did you got in?” Her voice was unusual calm for her body language. “What do you want?”

The Master gave her a smile that pulled the last remaining colour out of her cheeks. “What do you think, my dear?” Another step forward, the girl stumbled backwards. “I’m here for the Doctor. Don’t worry my dear, if you won’t stand in my way, I might spare you.” He grinned again, enjoying the paleness of her face. “Isn’t that lovely?”

But as expected these words brought a look of determination in her eyes and she lifted her ridiculous weapons. The Master sighed. “Oh, my dear Yaz, I can assure your, this is rather ridiculous.”

But the human still thrusted the umbrella at him as if it was a weirdly misshaped sword. He laughed and sidestepped her effortless.

“What a pity police officers in the twenty-first century are only trained with guns. And what a pity that the _Doctor_ despises them.”

Only for the frightened look in her eyes the Master slowly pulled out his TCE, not intending to use it – he still wanted to have a conversation with the Doctor planned.

But the _terror_ in poor Yasmin’s eyes was worth whatever moral lecture he would have to endure later. The girl used the umbrella again – and oh, the girl was clever for a human, he needed to give her that. When he laughed again, she swung the hammer.

The second it took him to force himself _not_ to use his TCE was enough time for the human to hit his shoulder with the hammer. And _fuck,_ it hurt!

He growled, lifting his hands in mocking surrender, but Yaz was striking out again. When she hit him with the hammer again, the Master was _this close_ to snap her neck. The girl already lifted the tool _again_ , ready to stroke him a third time and the Master considered his options.

He could kick her legs and hopefully she wouldn’t smash her own skull with the hammer, but knowing the Doctor, she would take that as if he attacks the girl.  
Backing off wasn’t an option either and hypnotism wouldn’t help him to be in the Doctor’s favour.

Instead, he smiled at the girl. “So, I guess you got your probation. Am I getting arrested by a police officer?”

“Shut. Up.” She growled through clenched teeth. Why wasn’t she screaming for the Doctor? She was only human, after all.

“Oh, come on, Yaz, what are you waiting for. The Doctor isn’t coming to save you. How long did she leave you behind? A year? Yeah?”

He danced around her, one eye fixed on the hammer and the umbrella, now shaking in her hands.

“Come on, Yaz, come on. Show me what you’re capable off.”

She swung the hammer again, and the Master didn’t sidestep her, just to grin at her when it hit him even though he could swear his collar bone just cracked. 

“Sorry to disappoint you, my dear, but you need more than _this_ ” A pitiful look towards her chosen weapon, “to harm a Time Lord. Didn’t the Doctor tell you.”

“Shut up!” She growled again, but he could smell how her fear doubled in seconds.

“Oh, poor human.” He grinned. “I see, she didn’t tell you a thing.”

She took a step back, obviously trembling now, but immediately lifted her tools, ready to go for his head. Maybe he could give her a push – just a push – without the Doctor hating him for the next century?

But as if she realised how close he was to defend against her pet, possibly harming her, finally, the Doctor appeared. Her hair was ruffled, her clothes wrinkled, as if she actually tried to sleep, judging by the dark rings under her eyes miserably failing.

It was a mistake to expect the Doctor to defend him in front her pet – that, the Master realised when the young woman hit him again the moment his eyes flickered to the Doctor. He was flung against the wall, of course colliding with the edge and and for a moment the world started to shake in front of his eyes.

He was staggering, trying to force the black spots away, intuitive trying to reach the Doctor. But he had misjudged her again. She was erratic regarding her pets. Even worse. Instead of _somehow_ helping him, she gave him the push that send him hard to the ground.

If not before the impact broke his collar bone.

But the Doctor didn’t seem to care, she was on him in seconds and it felt as if she just jumped hard on his back. The groan that threatened to leave his mouth was easily changed in laugher when he felt the way the Doctor was shaking.

Maybe it hadn’t been a mistake to meet the pet, after all.

The Master broke out into bubbling laughter while the Doctor, still unable to proceed what just happened, pressed him to the ground. He tried to lift his head, but she changed his position, pressing her knee in his lower back to use her free hand to keep is head down.

“What?” Was all that left her mouth, equally for Yaz and the Master floundering under her.

“What a way to welcome a friend!” The Master started, spreading his arms before she had them in her grip, too. The Master only laughed louder, and the Doctor finally found the time to look at Yaz, again.

The young woman looked back at her, terror in her eyes. “How did he get in?” Her voice was unusual high-pitched, but before the Doctor could think of a logical answer, the Master started wiggling again.

She pushed him down harder, pinning his arms. In this position she barely had a possibility to reach his pressure points but the way the Master breathed hectically under her, she would bet, that he never even tried to hurt Yaz. _Yet._

“Doctor!” He growled, but his voice was muffled, and she could feel the way he was gasping for breaths.

 _You’re crushing me!_ He pushed into her mind, but even though he sounded angry, it also sounded as if he barely suppressed a whining, betrayal in his voice.

“Doctor!” This time it was Yaz, her hands were still gripping the umbrella in one hand, the hammer in the other one. Ready to stroke him when necessary.

Her thoughts tried to make sense of the situation – of the terror in her friend’s eyes that couldn’t fit in any way the relief she felt for seeing the Master again. She wanted to pull him up, to hug him and the push him away in anger.

But she couldn’t ignore the fear of her friend, the smell so obviously in the air.

“Yaz, I’ve got him. It’s alright.” But she was clinging to the items in her hands. “Let go of them.” She nodded at the improvised weapons, trying to use a soothing voice.

For once the Master was silent, only breathing heavily under her grip. Maybe he was aware, that he was in a bad position, if Yaz would decide to hit him again.

Carefully, Yaz slide the hammer and the umbrella to the ground without averting her eyes for once from the Master. Then, just for a second, her eyes flickered to the Doctor, an obvious accusation in her look.

“I told you, he wouldn’t hurt you.” The Doctor said, trying to sound cheerful but Yaz only raised an eyebrow, nodding towards something on the floor while the Master’s body started to shake with laughter again.

She followed Yaz’ gaze and a horrible feeling creeped down her stomach. The Master’s TCE lay on the floor, he must have lost it when she pushed him to the ground.

 _What?_ She pushed against his mind, not caring that the way she pressed down even harder might hurt him.

 _I didn’t try to hurt her, Doctor._ He sighed in her head. _I just had my fun._

She very nearly stroked him for his words and pulled him upwards before she had a chance to think about everything that happened in the period of mere minutes.

The Master was as surprised as Yaz who stumbled backwards, while the Master seemed to take a while to convince his body to cooperate and hung floppily in the Doctor’s arms before he finally managed to stand securely on his feet.

“Oh, my dear Doctor, what do plan to do now?” He mocked her, playful wiggling in her hard grip.

“Well, she’s‚ obviously bringing you to justice.” Yaz’ eyes flickered to the Doctor while the Master started to laugh hysterical. “That’s right, isn’t it, Doctor? You’ll make sure he gets punished for his crimes.”

She very nearly snapped at Yaz. The need came as fast as it went and scared the Doctor. But it still hurt that her friend didn’t even try to understand what she felt for the Master.

“He’s _my_ responsibility, Yaz. Don’t worry.” This time she actually understood why her friend snorted. In her eyes she just barely escaped from being murdered. (And the Doctor wasn’t sure if that wasn’t true.)

“I mean it, Yaz!” She assured but it didn’t help that the Master was still laughing, head bowed, his hands in her grip searching for something to hold on to.

She pulled him closer, suddenly afraid of the way his body was shaking against her, and still _laughing_.

Without really thinking she gave him a hard push to the mind that took his breath away. The Master’s legs buckled, and the Doctor barely had time to hold him in her clutch.

“What’s wrong with him?” Yaz asked and for sure they gave a confusion picture. The Master hanging in her grip, gasping for breath, unable to support his own weight while she could barely hold his body.

Suddenly the Doctor felt sick for what she just did to him.

“Come on!” It seemed her shame made her only crueller.

She pulled her weakly struggling friend to his feet, ready to pull him after her if he didn’t cooperate and nodded towards Yaz. “Don’t worry.” She promised again, with a cheerful smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Thankfully, the Master recovered quickly from the aggressive mind attack – she _knew_ that his mental walls were still weak and in slow rebuilding process after what the Cyberium did to him. She had known that he had no way of fighting her, especially not even expecting her to do such a thing.

But there it was, the _anger_ she felt for him, for leaving her. She had screamed after him and he hadn’t even cared to turn around.

Trying to calm the unusual rage she pulled him in the next room which happened to be a bedroom – by Rassilon, what was the TARDIS trying to tell her?

The Master was already snorting with amusement, but she could feel the caution that was now clinging to him in the way he moved.

More for Yaz’ than her own feelings, the anger was gone, she pushed the Master onto the bed. He giggled again.

_I see, someone can’t wait to get me to bed._

The Doctor considered pulling up her walls, but that didn’t seem fair. And she still wanted to understand what happened, show her gratitude for his return in some way.

But instead, she felt Yaz’ piercing look in her back and the young woman was her friend to! Even worse, she had a duty of care for her! There was no way she could act the way she wanted while the precious human life of a friend was endangered.

And so, the Doctor pushed to Master to his back, holding ins wrists and pulling them up while the Master continued grinning. It was nearly scary how _calm_ he was. He was even calm when she pulled out handcuffs, only raised his eyes in mild amusement.

“Really love?”

Yaz took a careful step towards them, her body language was still radiating fear. But she was good in hiding it and the Doctor felt so proud for her friend.

She took a better hold of his arms and closed the first cuff around his left wrist.

 _Kinky, Doctor._ The Master projected into her mind while barely even fighting her while she cuffed his other wrist, leaving them restrained to the bed railing. 

_I’m gonna explain everything._ She tried with a calmness she didn’t feel herself.

The Master started to laugh cold. _Explain, Doctor? There’s nothing to explain. You don’t have the courage to tell your pet, that I_ am _your friend._

The Doctor shut him out of her mind, fast and hard, and but was aware that he could see her eyes flicker from shame to anger – back and forth, back and forth.

Of course, that was only a reason to laugh even more.

“I can smell your fear, Yaz, don’t be afraid, I’m completely at the Doctor’s mercy!” He suddenly shouted and the Doctor took her friend’s hand before the young woman could even open her mouth.

“Don’t listen to him, let’s go.”

And she pulled her toward the door while the Master was still making a fuss.

“Oh, Doctor, don’t forget to lock your pet up. Or else it might just _disappear._ ”

Yaz shuddered but the Doctor wasn’t sure if he actually was talking about her human friend. She gently pushed her out of the door and turned around to give the Master a look.

 _Give me a second_ , she silently pleaded with her eyes, ignoring the way he looked back at her – so much like Missy when she had to guide the Doctor through the process of opened the Vault because the mechanism had been stuck – and shut the door.

Something told her, that she was the worst best friend one could wish for.


	8. Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m in the middle of a lot of exams, so don’t expect too much of a regularity from me for the next weeks… (but I try to post on Mondays if I do). After that I should be back to my weekly posts :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The Master’s laugher followed the Doctor while she pulled a still upset Yaz through the corridors. Maybe it was just in her head now, because her friend’s body finally started to relax a bit, but the Master was still wheezing with laugher about a joke she didn’t want to hear.

“Doctor?”

The fear was starting to disappear in Yaz’ voice but she could still hear how the words were shaking.

What could she tell her?

Instead of an answer she gave her a wide grin. People usually fell for this grin. And on another day, it might had worked with Yaz as well. But not today. Her friend returned the look, but the obvious question was still there.

“Doctor!” More urging this time.

And it was in this moment that the Doctor realised, that she wasn’t able to talk with her friend about it – to lie about the Master. Not yet.

“Yaz…” What could she tell this clever woman?

“What are you going to do now?”

The Doctor opened her mouth to give her an answer that had nothing to do with the question, but Yaz was already talking again. “And I hope you don’t seriously think that this room will hold him for long, he needs to be in a real prison, or at least a cell where he can’t escape.”

The Doctor surpassed the urge to swallow hard. Yes… she definitely _wasn’t_ ready for this conversation.

“Yes, I know.” She smiled another smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “And that’s what I’m clarifying now.”

This time Yaz raised an eyebrow. “You are?” And there was a coolness laying under these innocent words.

“Of course, I am!”

Another critical look before the expression softened to her relief, but on the other hand the Doctor instantly felt guilty for the words that would turn into a lie very soon.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Yaz asked, and suddenly the Doctor understood why Yasmin Khan would be a brilliant police officer. But this wasn’t the time to tell her.

“It’s not that… simple?” She could only hope that her insecurity wasn’t recognisable in her words and because actions spoke more than words, she pulled Yaz into the next corridor, silently begging the TARDIS to rearrange the rooms.

“Why? Because he was your friend?” The last words were said with such a gentleness that the Doctor nearly stopped on the spot.

“No!” She protested, but her voice nearly broke. “Yes?” The Doctor swallowed hard and looked Yaz in the eyes. “I told you before, we went very different ways. He’s not my friend he used to be. I lost him with everything else on Gallifrey.”

Yaz gaze softened. “I understand that it’s hard.” Her hand was carefully touching the Doctor’s shoulder and she froze.

“But Ryan told me how he pulled you through that portal… he tried to _murder_ you.” No, he tried to bring me to murder both of us, the Doctor nearly snapped but forced herself to nod in the rough direction of her friend’s face.

“You don’t need to feel guilty.”

“I don’t! Thanks, Yaz, but I really don’t.” At least not about what she was thinking.

And thankfully the TARDIS finally answered her pilot’s silent begging, the door popping up right in front of them. Yaz started protesting immediately when she realised where the Doctor was leading her. “No, Doctor!”

“Yaz… this has nothing to do with you.”

The young woman snorted.

“I am not letting you go back there on your own! He’s _dangerous_!” 

For a moment, the Doctor wondered if she should tell her friend, that it was much more dangerous to ignore the Master but decided to leave it and smile instead.

“Doctor!”

Alright, Yaz was annoyed and angry and the Doctor couldn't be miffed about her feelings. She wasn’t acting like a friend.

“Just… take a nap.” She said and gently nudged Yaz’ towards her room. “I’ll be alright.”

“You can’t know that!” She snapped.

“He’s handcuffed, you saw me do it.” The Doctor tried without success.

“Yeah, because the man you described would be stopped by _handcuffs_. Especially after he nearly killed me.”

“You never were in any danger!”

To her surprise, Yaz didn’t reply anything on that, just shook her head. “Ten minutes, Doctor. If you’re not back by then I’ll come back for you.”

“I’ll be alright, Yaz, I promise!”

But all her friend did was to repeat her words. “Ten minutes!” And then she gave the Doctor a worried look and entered her room.

The Doctor stood there for a second, guild rising in her stomach, before she turned around, hurrying back to the Master. Again, she pleaded with the TARDIS to put Yaz’ room in another time zone, slow the time or at least make sure that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back to the room the Doctor was heading for.

But the TARDIS only growled in her head, disappointed with her actions. Alright, so she couldn’t even count on her ship right now.

What a brilliant day.

To the Doctor’s surprise the Master was still very much restrained when she entered the room. Actually, thinking about it, it didn’t even seem as if he tried to free himself. He had his legs casually crossed and a smug grin on his face as soon as their eyes met.

“Done with training your pet?” The Master mocked joyful.

But the joy didn’t reach his eyes. Instead, the Doctor saw coldness in the usually so warm colour of his eyes.

“Are you alright?” She asked gently and instantly the fire snapped back into the Master’s gaze.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” He growled. “Feeling guilt already? Or do you need me to murder your pet?”

The Doctor felt her whole body stiffened and a part of her wanted to scream at him, but instead she forced these feelings away, took some tentative steps towards the bed and when the Master didn’t protest, she sat set down on the edge of the mattress.

He raised an eyebrow, amusement in his eyes. But the Doctor knew him well enough to see, that something was off – apart from the fact that he was still cuffed to the bed.

Finally, she forced the words out of her mouth that needed saying if she wanted this to work in some way. “Thank you…” she swallowed hard and the Master grinned at her.

“Yes Doctor? What?”

“Thank you for _not_ killing her.” She spat at him, but that was only a reason for him to grin even wider.

“Did you tell her? Or does the poor child think she defeated me?”

“She’s not a child!” The Doctor snapped.

“But she is, my dear. When you were her age you still crawled into my bed every night because you were afraid of the monster under your bed. Oh, and the countless hours you sat in mud. _Playing._ ”

This time the Doctor snorted. “Are you sure I didn’t _crawl_ into your bed because I wanted to snog you?”

Teasingly she leaned forward, elbows resting on either side of his chest and gave him a smug grin. The Doctor could feel the Master’s stare on her lips and only waited for him to take the obvious invitation and kiss her – a wide grin spread across the his lips.

“Oh by Rassilon, that’s brilliant.” The Master laughed when he saw the change in the Doctor’s expression from desire to confusion. “You’ve _no idea_ how old your pet is.”

“Of course, I _know_!” The Doctor snapped back at him but didn’t pull back from his face. The grin on the Master’s face only widened.

“Sure, love. It’s not as if one could expect to have a concept of human ageing after being stuck there for years.” He gave her a sweet smile. “But maybe that was hard with all the soldiers and Miss Grant.”

The Doctor snorted. “Don’t pretend _you_ have a better understanding of it! And I do know the age of humans!”

Again, she had said the wrong words. The Doctor sat back up when the Master’s face changed to a cold mask. “It amazes me every time how short-living your memory is, when it comes to certain things.” His voice was as icy as his face. “Like stealing my TARDIS and leaving me with a bunch of Nazis.”

For a moment the Doctor couldn’t tell what was happening inside her – her emotions shuddered from guilt to anger, overwhelming her with a nauseous feeling, but when she opened her mouth, her words were cold.

“Why are you here, Master?”

The man who still was her friend, somehow, laughed darkly.

“Oh, my dear Doctor. Do you really think I left for good? Without making sure to get you out of these rags?”

She frowned, confused by the sudden change of the topic, but his words still too cold. “What do you mean?”

A grin spread across his face. “As far as I remember, I promised you decent rainbow clothes. And you’re in obvious need of them.”

The coolness still obvious in his voice didn’t fit the smirk on his lips and before she could help herself the Doctor was giggling. “You’re impossible.”

The Master wiggled his eyebrows and made it easy to ignore the cruelty in his eyes. And because she was a coward the Doctor didn’t give him the chance to start a very needed conversation, neither did she give him the promised explanation. She leaned forwards so fast that their foreheads very nearly collided, it was only the Master’s quick reaction, pulling his head away, that saved them from bruises.

“What are you doing, Doctor?” He growled. “Do I need any more bruises to satisfy you?”

Instead of an answer the Doctor took hold of his face and kissed him hard. She was surprised by herself and the way she just shoved her tongue in his mouth when he made a surprised sound.

For a moment the Master didn’t move, eyes wide, but the Doctor closed her own to shield off whatever emotions threatened to overwhelm him. And when he finally started kissing her back as rough as she did, it wasn’t hard to pretend that everything was perfectly fine.

It wasn’t a nice kiss, and the Doctor was sure, that she would leave bruises on the Master’s lip, but it sparkled something in her to life, that had left with him before.

It took the Doctor a while to realise, that she was still incredible angry with him.

It was only when she didn’t pull away when the Master wiggled under her that she caught herself feeling all those horrible things. And it felt _good_. She pulled away just before his respirator bypass system activated, her face still touching his, his breath on her lips.

“Doctor.” The Master’s voice was rough.

But she couldn’t talk to him, not now! Another rough kiss sealed his mouth and left him breathless when she finally pulled away. He was still surprisingly calm, but with an emotion in his eyes the Doctor didn’t want to focus on.

With shaking fingers, the Doctor started to unbutton the top buttons of his shirt, hands over the sensitive skin of his throat. The Master flinched and for a moment she wondered if this was the reason, he kept strangling people – the feeling of utter control over life and death. The satisfaction, the joy he claimed to feel and didn’t feel to cruel to her for a far too long moment.

The Doctor was as surprised as the Master when her lips moved down the sensitive skin of his throat, but instead of gentle kisses her teeth found his neck.

“Fuck!” The Master cursed and thrusted upwards. She bit him again.

“What are you doing, Doctor?”

“Since when do you complain?” She was as breathless as him.

As an answer he rattled his handcuffs, but the Doctor ignored to obvious hint. Instead, her tongue traced the bite marks on his neck while her fingers were busy unbuttoning his waistcoat and shirt.

“Don’t you want to uncuff me now?” The Master asked breathless. The Doctor cocked her head, playing as if she considered it, before a wide smile spread across her face.

“No.” She grinned.

The Master looked genuine surprised. “Wanna tell me why?”

No, she didn’t want to tell him, but she did it anyway. “I don’t want you to touch me.” And the anger was lingering back under her skin, tickling down her back.

The expression in the Master’s eyes scared the Doctor because it was so obvious something that showed her, that her beloved Koschei was still hiding under all those layers. If she didn’t know it better – if she wouldn’t be convinced that the Master wasn’t able to understand such emotions, she would even say he was looking worried.

“Doctor.”

“Shut. Up.”

And to her surprise he did, for a moment he was playing her ruthless game that would bring her nightmares for years.

But her mouth still explored every bit of his skin she revealed, a mixture between an unfamiliar roughness and a gentleness that left the Master cursing within minutes.

“Doctor!” He whined, but still not trying to stop her in the slightest and so she only continued without giving him any kind of attention. She wondered if he could feel the anger that threatened to push her over an edge where the Doctor didn’t exist anymore.

It would be so easy to let go. She had been dancing for her whole life on the edge of her own morality and especially this body didn’t hesitate too long to cross it – especially since the Master claimed to have revealed such a horrible past.

And she was Time Lord Victorious, ready to tear the universe apart just because she could. This body had been so consumed with guilt and self-hatred for years. But not anymore if she would let go. She wondered if the Master could finally love her unconditional when she stopped being the hypocrite, he claimed she was.

And for a time-consuming moment when she could feel nothing but the Master’s body under her own, she was scared of these thoughts.

It was the Master who pulled her out of twisted thoughts.

He must have seen the confusion in her eyes, but not seeing behind the darkness for once. Or maybe he was and pulled her back into the consciousness of the Doctor because he could see the horror that would follow.

“Feeling like you’re missing something?” He purred, eyes deliberately flickering between her legs where a part of her mind, flickering between past bodies, was indeed perplex.

But the Doctor only smiled, forcing the horror out of her mind and brought the anger she would always feel for him instead.

“Don’t worry, Master.” She promised coldly “I don’t need a cock to fuck you senseless.”

Her friend laughed. “How to I deserve the honour to hear these words out of the Doctor’s mouth?”

But she didn’t answer him, lips back on his exposed upper body, tongue trancing down, making sure to show him where she was planning to go.

And her fingers didn’t shake anymore when she started to unbutton his trousers. “Doctor!” The Master moaned and the Doctor wondered if that was fear in his voice? But if is erection spoke for anything, it probably wasn’t.

Teasingly she played with the waistband of his boxers only to move her mouth back upwards. The Master made a whining sound that was followed by a chuckle from the Doctor.

“What happened with your hair?” He asked hoarsely and the Doctor made sure it tickled the sensitive skin above is ribs.

“It reminded me of you. Consequential I had to remove it.”

As intended, that hurt his pride, and his next words were growled again, even though it was obvious by the way he thrusted is hips upwards that he was enjoying it was much as the Doctor was. 

“What was the mental attack for?” Of course, he always knew how to hurt her; she had known that his shields still were badly damaged from the Cyberium, otherwise he wouldn’t even had flinched from the push. But she pushed the guilt away and made sure the Master was aware of the darkness currently lingering so close under the surface of her whole being.

“Careful _Koschei._ ” Her fingers brushed against his hips. “You’re really not in the position to make angry.”

The Master laughed, but it was a hoarsely laughing. “You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?” An even wider grin. “Oh, it’ been so long – fuck, Doctor.”

His hands twitched in the handcuffs and the Doctor gave him an innocent smile. “Yes, Koschei?”

“Do you… want to show me…” He gasped with every movement of her mouth, circling deeper and deeper. He moaned loudly. “How you plan… to fuck me?”

The Doctor looked up in his face. His cheeks were flushed, and his hair was sticking to his forehead. She smiled again. “Are you sure you want to trust me not to bite you again?”

His eyes fluttered and another growl left his lips.

“Oh, but Doctor that would be a tragedy for you too.” A smug smile spread across his lips and the Doctor couldn’t help but kiss him. His beard scratched her skin and she made sure to straddle him this time.

The Master hands made an abrupt movement as if he tried to touch her only to forget about the restrains.

He broke the kiss, eyes dilated with lust. “Go on then, Doctor, _fuck me_.” 

“Maybe I will.” She whispered ready to do so, but only after teasing him again and bent down to kiss him again.

“You’re a really horrible person.” The Master groaned as soon as their kiss broke.

“But that’s why you love me, right?” She whispered and suddenly there was fear behind all those playful words.

“Are you sure I love you?” The Master whispered as if to prove her fears right, his whole body moving nervously under her.

“Yes, I am.” The Doctor said with confidence and started to slide down his body again.

Of course, that was the moment they both could hear silent steps on the floor, approaching this room. “Doctor?” Yaz asked anxious.

“No!” The Master growled and quickly pulled his legs up to hold her down. The Doctor fell forward, face pressed into his chest, rapid double heartbeat loudly in her ears. He was still hard, pressing against her stomach now, and the Doctor moaned in protest.

“Doctor?” Yaz asked again and for the first time she couldn’t disagree with the Master’s curses towards young woman.

But she carefully sat up anyway.

“Doctor…” The Master growled threateningly. “I’m gonna murder your TARDIS!” He continued when she pulled away. “I mean it, Doctor! Don’t you dare to go now.”

“How do you plan to stop me, if I do?” The words were meant to sound teasingly, but a look to the handcuffs broke the spell and suddenly the Doctor felt exhaustion threatening to overwhelm her. Never mind that her body was still ready craving to feel the Master’s body, begging her to continue where they stopped seconds ago.

“Doctor –” He threatened but she was already fiddling with the lock of the door. Instantly the Master’s mood snapped. “Oh, look, the pet is calling and as the obedient slave of the human race the almighty Doctor runs to her. Isn’t that lovely dear?”

And the Doctor couldn’t to tell, even if her life would depend on the answer, if that look in the Master’s eyes was amusement or cruelty.

The Master was still cursing long after the Doctor had closed the door behind herself.

His body was arching for her touch, but every desperate movement only chaffed harder on already reddened skin of his wrists.

And in this moment the Master could promise with all his hearts that he hated the Doctor.

Again, a human was more important than him. Of course, the almighty timeless child would give all her attention to a helpless pet instead of listening to him for once.

It didn’t help that his body, now unable to focus on the Doctor’s touch, clawed into the feeling of his broken collar bone. And that suddenly hurt a lot. Thinking about it, his head hurt too, and he could swear, that his shoulder was still bruised.

He wondered, if the Doctor hadn’t seen all those injuries or just didn’t care. Neither of the options felt good.

But he had seen the terror in the Doctor’s eyes. The darkness, the horror. So beautiful, so perfect. If she could just accept the strength these feeling brought her. If she could just let go, they could be together for eternities. 

The pet’s voice echoed to him, but too far away to understand any words, and the Master growled at the ceiling, because for sure, that was the TARDIS’ doing. “It’s not as if you’re not used to it by now.”

He could swear, that the TARDIS snorted. “Jealous, old girl?” He snapped “Or why else would you allow the pet to interrupt us?”

The ship withdrew her mental press which was oddly satisfying. What had happened, that he ended up arguing with a time-space-capsule over the Doctor.

The Master uttered a brief laugh, before his head flopped back to the pillow. He _really_ needed to get out of these cuffs. It was embarrassing, that the Doctor thought they could hold him for long, even if it was nothing but an act for her stupid human.

Or, another part of him whispered in excitement, she wanted to see how far he would play that game.

The Master smirked, even though his body was still demanding to be touched by the Doctor. This regeneration of her – so joyful and childlike on the outside – was so much crueller than any of the Doctor’s other regenerations had been for a long time.

The human was saying something, again exactly that far away that he could hear her talk but not understand her words. It was the girl he had flirted with as O. The clever one who was clinging to the Doctor as most girls had done during the centuries.

He wondered if the Doctor had realised by now, that another human girl had fallen for her _again._ Always the clever ones. It was a pity actually; for a human Yasmin Khan wasn’t as stupid as other members of her species.

But he could still smell her fear in the room if he concentrated long enough. She had been so scared, poor little human. The clever ones were always the funniest. What a delight.

The Master laughed, because it was actually a tragedy. At least for the Doctor who hadn’t realised that he trap of her charm had snapped shut around the innocent human who was destined to find a tragic end.

And it still didn’t stop the Doctor from picking up all those breakable aliens, when the alternative was… _him._ The Master wondered why it still hurt so much after all those centuries – even when he hadn’t been more than barely a child the Doctor had run away without him.

He would had subdued the whole universe for the Doctor – he still would without a second thought – all she needed to do was ask.

But instead, all she ever did was to run away from him.

And now, with the pet in reach, it wouldn’t take her long to remember, that she couldn’t love him. Not really. No matter how much the Master had always loved her. And always would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, they were meant to have a conversation, not _this_. But I hope you enjoyed it anyway :)


	9. Hatred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Oksenia for always taking the time to comment.   
> I really appreciate all your kudos and comments!

The Master made sure he was casually fiddling with the handcuffs when the Doctor came back. “You took your time.” He complained with a bored expression and sat up properly from where he had been laying on the pillow.

The Doctor didn’t bat an eyelid about the handcuffs dangling in his left hand while he scratched his beard with the other one. “Lazy, lazy Doctor. I could have dissembled your TARDIS hours ago.”

The Master made sure the restraints only _just_ missed her when he threw them at her. Disappointingly, the Doctor only flinched before she took another step towards him and pulled down a bag out of her transimensional pockets.

The Master raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Doctor?” He grinned, eyeing the medical kit.

“Peace offering?”

The Master burst out in laughter. It took him a while to realise, that the Doctor couldn’t follow his thoughts this time, just gave him this look of disbelief, maybe even fear. On any other day he would have used it to play with her.

But not today. Today, he forced his body to stop the outburst and asked: “For what?”

The Doctor’s look got even more confused.

“For your human? Oh dear, I think we’re past this point.” Now, his voice was cold again, but it didn’t stop the Doctor from opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the right words.

The Master laughed shortly and explained with a playful joy: “If I would ask you to apologise to me, every time one of your pets attacks me or you act a certain way because of them – uhhh, we wouldn’t be finished by now.”

“That’s not true.” She whispered, but probably just, because she was the Doctor and he was the Master and they needed to disagree with each other.

He snorted, ready to explain to her with detailed examples of the past, why she was wrong, and then just flopped back to his pillow.

“Sure Doctor.”

She took a tentative step towards him and the Master rolled dramatically on his side. “Peace offering?” He asked with a smug grin.

She nodded, still so, so quiet. “Well, go on then.” And the Master flopped back on his back, enjoying the way the Doctor looked in disbelief at him, that he didn’t argue.

He could feel her sit down on the bed still so reluctant before she spoke quietly: “I’m not sure where she hit you?”

“Why don’t you take a look? You were ready to tear my clothes from me only a while ago.”

“Master!” But her voice was too small, and the Master realised, that the Doctor was close to falling apart – again.

He sighed. “Doctor love, what’s the matter with you?”

He could feel her flinch, but still didn’t bother to open his eyes. This was better for both of them.

“You came back – I don’t know why, but you did. And I’m lying about you, telling Yaz…” She stopped talking.

“What a monster I am?” The Master rolled on his side again, this time looking her in the eye. “How many innocent people I murdered cold blooded.” A joyless laughter. “Oh, what punishment I deserve. And how the great Doctor suffers so much because she _knew_ me as a child.”

The Doctor couldn’t look him in the eyes, the Master sighed and flopped back into the pillow.

“Yes love, heard all of that before. And I think we reached a point, where words can’t hurt us anymore.” That was an obvious lie, and they both knew it; the Master still woke up from nightmares with the Doctor standing over him, whispering “ _I am so much more than you”_ over and over again.

“I love you.” The Doctor blurted out and the Master nearly chocked.

“Do you really think I didn’t know, what kind a person you were, when we were children? I could see it in your eyes, the way you talked about the world. You even murdered in cold blood and I – not once – tried to stop you, to make sure you couldn’t do it again.”

The Master felt a strange coldness claiming his body.

“You’re not a monster, you’re just _you._ But me, covering your crimes even though I always despised them – that makes _me a monster._ ”

The Doctor’s eyes were everywhere in the room but on him. “You call me a hypocrite and sanctimonious, but you still don’t realise what kind of person _I am_?”

Finally, there eyes met, and another, barely audible “I love you” left her lip before she broke down in tears.

The Master stared at the crying mess in front of him, still shocked form her words – because as honest as they were, she was still thinking it made her a monster for loving him. If she even loved him in the first place. What did that make the Master?

It made him angry, for one thing. 

“Doctor!” She was still crying, close to sobbing, and it would have been so easy to push her from the edge of the bed. But the Master didn’t.

“Doctor, will you stop that nonsense!” He snapped at her, his own feelings ready to overwhelm him in a way that scared him.

But instead of stopping suddenly, the Doctor was on him, face buried on his chest, body trembling with sobs.

And it was only, when she could see his face, that the Master felt the tears on his own face, realising that he wasn’t angry. He was just sad.

It still took a while before he convinced himself to wrap his arms around the Doctor, carefully drawing circles on her back.

The situation reminded him a lot of the last time the Doctor had broken down. On the stolen spaceship escaping from prison, with the Cyberium inside his head. And like back then it was a shock.

And suddenly his arm around her back tightened, until he was pressing her hard to his own body. He _hated the Doctor_ for everything she had done to him. For everything she would be doing to him. For everything that she was.

And worst of all, the Master loved the Doctor more than anything in the known universes. And sometimes he wondered if hatred wasn’t just another way of loving. Fragile, full of emotions, ready to burst. And yet so strong that it felt as if could tear him apart.

“Doctor.” The Master whispered and his voice was rough. “Can we talk now?”

He still didn’t let go of her, but finally she lifted her head,

It pleased him to see the horror in the Doctor’s eyes once she saw the tear streaks on his face. “Am I a monster?”

“Yeah.” The Master snorted but didn’t let the Doctor suffer for long. “Terrible monster, you ruined my shirt, _again_!”

The Doctor gave him a look of utter confusion before she burst out in laughter. “How can you be like this?” She asked giggling, her hands on his face, caressing his beard before she leaned forwards and was kissing him again.

This time, it was a gentle – too gentle – kiss and the Master could barely stop himself from biting her lip. Instead, he pushed her away.

“Doctor, as much as I enjoy your cuddling mood, we really need to talk.”

All the cheerfulness she had put on left her face all at sudden. “I don’t want to hear it.” She whispered all at sudden and it was as honest as her words when she had told him, she didn’t want him to touch her.

“I know.” The Master nodded, gave her a kiss on the forehead and pulled her back to his chest. “But you can listen.”

The Doctor was pulling her arms up, pushing the heels of her hand on her eyes and the Master buried his hand in her hair with a sighed. “You can also cry.” This time his voice sounded hollow in his ears while his other hand continued where it had stopped drawing circled on her back.

The Doctor didn’t change her position, but the Master started talking anyway. His voice was determinate and the Doctor’s hectically breathing told him, that she was listening.

“I went back to Gallifrey.” The Doctor stopped breathing for a moment, so silent now, almost frozen in time. But the Master just continued with a calmness that surprised him himself.

“It was so… peaceful. I went back to the Matrix, searching for your past.” If possible, the Doctor went even more motionless. “I couldn’t find a thing, but the Matrix showed me why I _need_ to know.” Now the urgency was back, his hearts beating loudly in his own ears, mocking the drums in his head, beating, and beating, and beating, and beating.

He suppressed a curse.

“Do you understand, Doctor?” He waited until she was finally lifting her head, unshed tears in her eyes. “Do you understand, why I need to know?”

The Doctor just shook her head, a silent but determinate “No” on her lips. When she spoke loudly, the hardness that covered the pain was back in her voice. “I told you before, Master,” her eyes were wide “the people you found there aren’t _me_. Just a mockery of my life. I don’t want to know.”

Now it was the Master who frowned. “How can it be a mockery?” 

The Doctor hesitated for a while, before she buried her face back on his chest, voice muffled when she answered him. “She seemed happy – somehow. Ruth, I mean. But she wasn’t me. And yet she was.”

Silence, but eventually the Doctor seemed to have found the right words. “But this life is gone. Nothing but a memory in the Matrix and a woman in the past. And yet you’re… you’re,”

The Doctor was sitting up so fast, that the Master let her go. She scrambled to the end of the bed and her eyes were full of betray. “You’re giving _their lives_ – people who were never me – so much more attention, than you ever gave _our_ past.”

She breathed in deeply. “What does this say about me?”

The Master could only stare at her in shock. Because, obviously, their life, their past, was so fragile, so _precious,_ that he would never dare to break it by snooping around.

But the Doctor looked hurt and angry and the Master understood that they were talking about two different things again. He had no idea what he could tell her.

“What did you see in the Matrix?”

And whatever he had been trying to say was wiped out of his mind as soon as he heard these words. He looked up, anger and fear seething inside his whole being, but the Doctor just crossed her arms. And even like that, with the obvious traces of tears on her face, she looked angry. And like the immortal being that she despised so much.

“You don’t want to know.” Was all the Master finally said.

“But I do, if it convinces you, that you need to know.” The Doctor snapped, disgust obvious in her voice.

And the anger was back in his hearts. The Master sad up properly as abruptly as the Doctor had done and stared at her with all the hatred that filled up his hearts. Hatred, that was probably just another word for love.

“Can’t you guess, what I saw? I’ve already told you, that I didn’t show you everything. I told you, what I hid from you.”

The Doctor went silent, and a look in her eyes told the Master, that she was remembering the situation. But when she spoke, she sounded just tired. And maybe a bit desperate.

“Yes, and as far as I remember, you also told me, you didn’t deserve to live because of this.” She didn’t look him in the eyes, gaze focused on her own twitching fingers. “So, are you telling me, that I need to worry about you, again?”

The Master laughed darkly, because he couldn’t remember when the Doctor ever worried about him. She just couldn’t be on her own.

“Oh, Doctor.” And he was laughing again.

“Yes or no?” She snapped and only made him laugh even more. “Master! I don’t see why this is funny! Answer me!”

And when he didn’t answer, only continued laughing she was on him again, hands going for his temples.

The Master gripped her wrist so hard, that she cried out, struggling, when he shoved her back, pinning the Doctor on her back, wrists in a firm grip.

“Don’t you dare, love.” He hissed, strengthening his grip until she cried out again. Only a bit more and he would shatter the bone.

The drums were raging in his mind and the Doctor looked at him with stubbornness. And somehow, that broke the spell.

The Master let go of her in seconds, backing off until he was on the floor, hands pressed to his head. All he could hear was the constant beating of the drums and he wanted to tear this room apart, to kill and leave nothing behind but shreds.

A small hand touched him.

He had never realised how small the Doctor’s hands were in this body. It had been so long, back in their youth, since her hands felt like this. He didn’t drop his hands, trying to focus on what she was doing.

He still flinched when the Doctor carefully pulled his hands away.

“I’m sorry.” Her lips said, but the sound was swallowed by the noise all around him. He considered pulling his arms around her, but the Doctor stood up again, reaching out for him.

The Master didn’t take her hand.

He just stared at her, until the hand dropped and stood up on his own, so that their eyes were meeting again. But the Doctor couldn’t hold his stare for long, blinking hectically and his eyes wandered over the floor. 

The medical kit lay useless in front of their feet and the Master considered if kicking it would help. Useless _peace offering._ The Doctor followed his eyes suddenly shrugging.

“I guess that was a bit useless.” She said with a smile, that didn’t reach her eyes. “And far too late.”

The Master snorted and sat down on the bed. He could tell her, that his collar bone only just started to grow together again, and that his collision with the wall had left his head more than a bit sore, as well as his bruised shoulder, protesting with every movement.

But he didn’t. They had been through much worse. It was only because he had sustained the injuries by not fight Yaz that she cared at all. They both knew it and the Master gave the Doctor a weak smile.

“Come to me, Doctor.” The Master gave her a weak smile, but the Doctor was still hesitating, arms hanging on her side.

He sighed. “I’m not touching you.”

Finally, she carefully approached him, entering the bed on the other side, but lay on her side in seconds. The Master looked at her before he slid down until they were laying face to face, without their bodies even brushing each other.

“Your pet can show up any second.” The Master said, not in the mood for another interrupting like before. The Doctor just shrugged. “The TARDIS is in a good mood. Yaz is in a different time zone.”

The Master snorted and flopped back on his back. “We need to appreciate your ship’s mood. Talking is alright, but if we’re fucking –”

The Doctor nudged him in the ribs. “Shut up, Koschei.”

And he did, rolling back on his side the same moment she rolled to her back, and kept watching her, while the Doctor stared at the ceiling, backs of their hands nearly touching, but only _just._

But that was alright, too.


	10. Promise

It was the Doctor who broke the silence. She could feel the way the Master was staring at her, his eyes almost piercing their way into her skin.

“Why do you need to know?” She asked calmly, suddenly all she felt was a strange curiosity.

The Master took is time to answer and the Doctor nearly thought he hadn’t heard her. But when he spoke his words were gentle, barely more than a light breeze on her skin. “It’s a part of you.” He finally said, but his voice carried confusion, too. As if he didn’t know himself.

She felt her fingers twitching and buried them in the fabric of her shirt. The ceiling in front of her eyes started to blur and her fingers tensed up even more.

“Doctor?” The Master was still watching her, she could feel his eyes on her. “Are you alright?”

The Doctor had the stupid need to laugh. Everything was fine. She should feel brilliant. And yet – “I’m always alright.” But her voice sounded hollow in her ears.

“Yes, me too.”

These words finally convinced her to turn around abruptly, rolling on her own side. He was so close now, their foreheads nearly touching, their breaths on each other’s skin.

Her vision was still blurred but she refused to let go of the tears, building up in her eyes. Not that the Master looked any better, _staring_ at her with a look in his eyes that was too familiar after all those centuries.

And now that she was once again reminded of the absence of the Master’s focus, she could peeked to his hands, could see how he was trying to suppress the urge to tap the well known beat of four.

He was failing, but the Doctor couldn’t even tell, if he was aware of it. He usually wasn’t.

“If, for some stupid reason, you feel like you need to know _for me_ , please stop.” She said gentle, but the Master only hummed, obviously not listening to her.

It made the Doctor angry, it made her sad. But worst of all, she felt _guilty._ Since she knew what the drums were – and that was something she knew for centuries now – she wondered if she would have been able to stop the path of destruction the Master had taken if she had just _listened_.

She wondered, if the man in front of her would still be Koschei, if she would have believed him. 

But she had missed her chance to be the friend the Master deserved centuries ago.

She had tried it more than once – ages ago in the Vault. Missy had snapped at the Doctor. Knowing the course of the drums, knowing, that they couldn’t be real, not anymore, was enough for the Master to despise even talking about them. Or to acknowledge their presence as a faint echo, calling from the past.

And it wasn’t the Doctor who would force her friend to talk about it after she failed so miserable for years to take him seriously. She wondered, if the Master had ever forgiven the Doctor her ignorance.

She carefully laid her fingers around his hand now, after all and the Master’s‚ eyes snapped back in focus, the piercing awareness back into his gaze, drilling into her eyes.

She couldn’t hold the eye contact.

The Doctor’s other hand moved to his face and come to rest on his beard. The Master gave her a funny look, but she didn’t care, just carefully moved her fingers.

It took a while, but eventually the Master leaned in her touch, his eyes half-closed but still watching her. The Doctor’s fingers wandered over his face and came to rest in his hair, before she started brushing through it.

“You’ve always so nice hair.” She mumbled and heard the Master utter something unintelligible. “But you could be a bit smaller, you know.”

This time, without opening his eyes properly, the Master snorted. “It’s not my fault you screwed up your regeneration. _Again._ I have the same height as usual, you’re just not as tall as usual.”

The Doctor felt herself grinning. “So, you’re choosing you appearance for _me._ ”

The Master opened his mouth, his eyes snapping open. “Of course not!” The Doctor only grinned wider. “Oh, do shut up.” She started to laugh.

“Besides,” he explained, now sulking but not pulling away from her touch, “You like _blond._ And I’m usually brunette.”

The Doctor grinned again, even though she knew he was hinting Rose, and River and even her Gallifreyan wife’s first body. He knew as much as she did, that she had never cared.

“Oh no I’m just making sure I’m not mistaking them for you.”

For a moment, an uncomfortable silence spread between them before the Master started laughing. It was a joyful laugh, that she loved to hear from him.

“Are you trying to _flirt_ , Doctor?” The Master mocked. “If so, _please stop._ ” And he was laughing again.

The Doctor pulled a face but joined his laughter after a while. It felt oddly freeing, even though the Master sat up and pulled her with him.

They laughed for a while, and suddenly it wasn’t hard to imagine, that they had snuggled up in one of their bed in their shared room at the Academy, laughing about one of the projects they had sabotaged.

And when their laughter was finally dying away, The Doctor felt the same grin on her face, she could see on the Master. And maybe that made it easier for her, to accept his next words.

“It’s not working. Me, you, Yaz.”

She even realised, that he wasn’t calling Yaz her pet, or human and that meant a lot. He was _trying._ But the words still stung.

“And you know it.” He finished, voice still so _calm._ The Doctor felt that it would be easier if he just screamed at her.

The Doctor didn’t lift her eyes. “We work something out…” The Master only laughed.

“I want it to work.” She protested, anger rising. Why wasn’t he even trying?

“Yes Doctor, you want so many things to work. They still don’t work.” He gave her a long look and this time she didn’t look away. “Sorry love, not gonna happen.”

She wanted to scream at him, throw the pillow at him, shake him until he would change his mind – instead she felt how her chest suddenly felt too small, too constricted for her body. The Doctor nodded with a lump in her throat.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re leaving?”

The Master snorted. “Well, I’m not staying with you and the human.” So, he was leaving. But _maybe,_ hopefully, he would come back. Somehow, it felt like an unsaid promise.

“We could tell her, that you’re my friend.” The Doctor heard herself whisper anyway. “And if you behave – just a bit…” Another laughter.

“That’s lovely Doctor, but I don’t think that brave little Yasmin Khan would believe you.”

Of course, he was right, they both knew it. But somehow it was nice to pretend, it wasn’t like this.

“Yaz liked O. You _flirted_ with her.” The Master smiled at her. “I flirted _with you_ , too. And I’m not O.”

Yes, he wasn’t O. He was the Master.

“It’s your fault anyway,” The Doctor continued as if she hadn’t heard him, but with a playfulness in her voice “you blew up the plane!”

The Master grinned. “But that was fun.”

The Doctor snorted. “Could you please stop exploding planes with me inside? I think we’ve done enough of it.”

The Master’s grin spread even wider. “What do you suggest then? I could … hmm… fill the room around you with water. If you have enough of sky diving, what about diving?”

The Doctor stared at him for a full second before she broke out in laughter.

“You idiot.”

“ _ME?_ ” The Master gave her an innocent look. “An _idiot_?” He smiled warmly. “That’s really sweet of you, love. I can nearly count that as a compliment.”

The Doctor nudged him again. “Stop making fun of me!”

“I would never do that.” He mocked playful and the Doctor shoved the pillow in his face. The Master grunted in surprised before he responded the attack with a pillow in the Doctor’s face.

Unfortunately, the TARDIS still wasn’t that satisfied with their behaviour and refused to give them more pillows. And so, two centuries old Time Lords fought for a small, already crushed pillow; falling over each other, legs tangled in the blanket until – and the Doctor and the Master equally blamed the TARDIS for this – they landed on the floor.

“Ha!” The Doctor said grinning, after she picked herself up, holding the pillow in one hand.

The Master rolled his eyes and, so fast that the Doctor couldn’t stop him, pulled her down again. They were rolling over each other, until they hit a wall.

“Ow!”

But the Master took his chance and yanked the pillow out of her hands.

“You’re cheating!”

“Your ship is cheating!”

For a moment they stared at each other, still with playful ambition to win this childish game before both of them stared laughed at the same moment.

“What are we doing?” The Doctor gasped, but the Master only toppled over, burying his head against her chest and laughed so hard, until the Doctor could see tears in his eyes.

And only when he was looping his arms around her middle, the Doctor realised how close they were to each other, how much of his body was touching hers. It felt like a sight of trust she didn’t deserve.

The Doctor felt a chill down her back, before her brain reminded her, that it was only the Master and she slumped in his embrace.

She kissed his head and before she could even think about the consequences, small words left her lips. “Promise me something… don’t search in the Matrix for more of this… _history._ ”

The Master froze, for a moment his grip loosened, before he lifted his head, eyes piercing in hers.

“I can’t promise you that.”

It was too honest, and the Doctor felt another chill down her back. She hesitated for a while, before she forced her next words out. “Alright, then promise me not to do it without me.”

“ _Why?_ You don’t want to know.”

“I do, if it’s important for you!” The Doctor protested, and it was only half a lie. She didn’t want to know and couldn’t picture a scenario where this would change, but like she would have done anything for Koschei millennia ago, a few – or rather a lot – regenerations never changed that desire.

And this was a wish she could grant him.

The Master’s face softened, and maybe he could see all this in her eyes, because he slowly nodded.

“Alright. Let’s do this together, like we used to do everything together.”

His words hurt, but she nodded anyway. The Doctor knew that she owed him that. Not as the Doctor, but the Master’s best friend. And if she would refuse him now, there was no telling, if their relationship wouldn’t shatter for the next centuries.

They sat in their oddly comfortable embrace, but the Master pulled away too soon. Maybe he could feel how the Doctor was shifting in his grip, but even though her body fought against all those conflicted emotions, a part of her wanted to loop her arms around him and never let go.

“I need to go.” The Master whispered.

The Doctor didn’t even lift her head.

“Stay.” She said, and it sounded so small, so desperate.

But the Master didn’t respond to her words. “Do you want me to knock you out, so that your pet can blame me? Or am I just really clever with escapes?”

“Don’t go!” It already sounded like begging. “Please, Master, don’t go.”

“I think I’m rather clever, don’t you think.”

Finally, the Doctor looked up, and could see the sadness in the Master’s eyes.

But he was still moving towards the door and the Doctor knew, that she had no right to stop him.

“See you soon, Doctor.”

She opened her mouth, suddenly unable to form words, but the Master smiled anyway.

“Master.” She finally whispered and his smile widened. “I like it when you use my name.”

And with a last gentle grin, the Master disappeared out of her view. The Doctor kept staring at the door. Her thoughts started jumping between the Master and Yaz and what she needed to tell Yaz – somehow, she felt empty.

Only minutes later, she could feel, how the TARDIS’ door opened, and closed again.


End file.
